Family movies were on the rise, video game adaptations were successful, and superheroes were flying too close to the sun. Welcome to the year 2025 of multiplexes!
It’s been a roller coaster year for movie theaters and the studios tasked with keeping screens filled. Warner Bros. delivered a variety of hits, including a vampire movie set in the Jim Crow South (Sinners), an old-school star-studded racing drama (F1: The Movie), and a sandbox game-turned-big-screen hit (A Minecraft Movie), all of which performed wonders at the box office. Meanwhile, Paramount, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars on another “Mission: Impossible,” released very little profitably.
And Disney stands out as the only studio to back three films that have topped $1 billion (we expect Avatar: Fire and Ash to do so as well) and have grossed more than $6 billion worldwide. But the studio also distributed nearly twice as many big-budget duds (Elio, Snow White, Tron: Ares, to name a few). What’s even more troubling is that Marvel, once Hollywood’s biggest hitmaker, is struggling to regain its momentum. Everything hinges on next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, which will get the series back on track.
Our annual report includes five major studios and A24, which is nominally indie but spent lavishly on “The Smashing Machine” and “Marty Supreme.” However, it does not include streamers such as Amazon or Apple. These companies weren’t releasing enough movies in theaters for us to rate them. Now, everyone, start spending Bezos’ money!
As 2025 draws to a close, it’s time for Hollywood to receive its report cards. Some people may not want to stick it on their refrigerator.
disney
Highs: “Lilo & Stitch” ($1.03 billion on a $100 million budget), “Zootopia 2” ($1.31 billion on a $150 million budget), “Freaky Friday” ($153 million on a $42 million budget), “Avatar: Fire & Ash” ($506 million on a $250 million+ budget)
Raw: “Captain America: Brave New World” ($415 million on a $180 million budget), “Snow White” ($205 million on a $250 million budget), “Elio” ($150 million budget) “Tron: Ares” ($142 million on a $180 million budget), “Predator: Badlands” ($181 million on a $105 million budget), “Ella McKay” ($4 million against a $35 million budget)
The bottom line: Disney deserves props for producing two billion-dollar hits (and likely three if Avatar: Fire and Ash makes it through the holidays), a feat that highlights the rift between the studio and its rivals, after not having had a single one break $1 billion since 2023. But little else worked for Disney beyond the live-action Lilo & Stitch remake, Zootopia 2, and Avatar 3. Marvel continued to slump, producing three consecutive commercial failures: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Fantastic Four: First Steps. (Next year’s Sony-produced Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday won’t be released immediately.) Elio highlighted Pixar’s continued struggle to launch original animation. Meanwhile, Snow White, Tron: Ares, and Predator: Badlands proved that some old properties are better left in storage. This is a problem for Disney, which relies almost entirely on recycling what has been successful in the past. Let’s make this a Hollywood watchword. Brand awareness and box office revenue are not the same thing.
Grade: B
paramount
Highs: “The Smurfs” ($124 million on a $58 million budget), “The Naked Gun” ($102 million on a $42 million budget), “Regretting You” ($90.4 million on a $30 million budget)
Low budgets: “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” ($598 million on a $400 million budget), “The Roof Man” ($33 million on a $20 million budget), “The Running Man” ($68 million on a $105 million budget)
Bottom line: In Paramount’s defense, the company has spent much of the past year in a painful limbo waiting for government regulators to approve its sale to Skydance. So studio executives spent their time leaving behind those who correctly assumed they would be ushered out the exit as soon as David Ellison’s staff took over. Paramount gave Tom Cruise a blank check, but it turned out he was taking on too many impossible missions. He also bet on whether Edgar Wright and Glen Powell could decipher “The Running Man,” the second adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. The first attempt failed when it was released in theaters starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sadly, these two didn’t have to bother tying their sneaker laces. Paramount has delivered some cost-effective hits, including “The Smurfs” and “Naked Gun,” but these aren’t the modest successes you’d expect from one of Hollywood’s most storied studios. Will the new management be successful?
Grade: C
sony
Highs: “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” ($664 million on a $20 million budget), “Chainsaw Man” ($153 million), “One of Them Days” ($51 million on a $14 million budget), “Best Kid Legend” ($117 million on a $45 million budget) “28 Years Later” ($151 million on a $60 million budget), “I Know What You Did Last Summer” ($64.8 million on a $18 million budget), and “The Materialist” ($71 million internationally)
Bottom: “Caught Stealing” ($32 million on a $40 million budget), “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” ($20 million on a $45 million budget)
Bottom line: Sonny didn’t hit a home run, but he also avoided a strikeout. Admittedly, it hasn’t been a very strong year for the studio. But we evaluate based on what is released, not what is actually released. Anime benefited greatly, with back-to-back wins for Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man, while the US showed a voracious appetite for manga adaptations. The studio also kept theatrical comedy alive with “One of Them Days,” starring KeKi Palmer and SZA, and turned A24’s romantic drama “The Materialist” into a global hit. Neither “The Best Kid: Legend” nor “I Know What You Did Last Summer” were necessary sequels, but both films earned decent box office returns. As for The Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell’s combined efforts more than made up for the terrible reviews and bad buzz. Star power brings audiences to theaters only if the movie is good.
Grade: B
universal
High performers: “How to Train Your Dragon” ($636 million on a $150 million budget), “Jurassic World Rebirth” ($868 million on a $180 million budget), “Black Phone 2” ($132 million on a $30 million budget), “Wicked: For Good” ($100 million budget) “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” ($206 million against a budget of $36 million)
Lowest prices: “Wolf Man” ($34 million on a $25 million budget), “Love Hurts” ($17 million on a $18 million budget), “M3GAN 2.0” ($39 million on a $25 million budget), “Him” ($28 million on a $27 million budget)
Bottom line: Sequels and reboots have been a huge win for Donna Langley and her team. In theory, rebooting “Jurassic World” just three years after the final installment of the “When the Dinosaurs Attack” series might have seemed like a bad idea. But it turns out people really like watching velociraptors eating pesky humans, especially when Scarlett Johansson is trying to avoid being the dessert. The studio also scored on sequels to “Wicked” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” which should generate significant profits, although they won’t even come close to the same business as their predecessors. Of course there were failures. But failures like “Wolf Man” and “M3GAN 2.0” didn’t cost that much to make. The main problem Universal faced was that Blumhouse, which produced these films, was uncharacteristically inconsistent. “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” and “Black Phone 2” helped the company get back on track, but in addition to servicing old series, it needs to deliver new series.
Grade: B+
warner bros
Highs: “A Minecraft Movie” ($958 million on a $150 million budget), “Sinners” ($367 million on a $90 million budget), “Final Destination: Bloodline” ($315 million on a $50 million budget), “F1: The Movie” ($250 million) “Superman” ($616 million on a $224 million budget), “Weapons” ($268 million on a $38 million budget)
Bottom: “Mickey 17” ($133 million on a $118 million budget), “Alt Knight” ($10 million on a $50 million budget), “One Battle After Another” ($204 million on a $140 million budget)
Bottom line: It’s the comeback of the year. After a tough end to 2024 (Joker: Folie à Deux, anyone?) and a rocky start to 2025 (Mickey 17 and Alto Knights were expensive bombs), the studio bounced back the old-fashioned way. At a time when reboots and sequels are the norm, it was about relying on bold directors and new ideas. From the video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie” and Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller “Sinners,” to the Brad Pitt-starring sports drama “F1: The Movie” and Zack Creger’s genre-bending mystery “Weapons,” seven consecutive releases have grossed more than $40 million domestically, setting a record for the first time in Hollywood history. Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedy-adventure One Battle After Another isn’t in danger of making a profit on its hefty $140 million budget, but the film did cross the $200 million mark and reached the milestone of bringing adult audiences to theaters at original prices. Additionally, “One Battle” could have value beyond its balance sheet as a major Oscar contender. This could be Warner Bros. ”Last year, we started working as an independent studio. Then it disappeared with a bang.
Grade: A
A24
Highs: “The Materialist” ($104 million on a $18 million budget), “Bring Her Back” ($39 million on a $10 million budget), “Friendship” ($16.5 million bought for $3 million), “Eternity” ($28 million on a $12 million budget)
Bottom: “Smashing Machines” ($21 million on a budget of $50 million), “Eddington” ($13 million on a budget of $25 million), “The Legend of Ochi” (budget 1) ($4.9 million on a $20 million budget), “Warfare” ($33 million on a $20 million budget), “Death of the Unicorn” ($15 million on a $15 million budget)
Bottom line: This indie studio is looking to move beyond its low-budget roots and play with the big players. But it turns out that spending more money doesn’t necessarily mean more profit. Benny Safdie’s Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a troubled MMA fighter, featured a change of pace performance, but was too dark for the actor’s fans and failed to garner the critical acclaim it needed to pack arthouse audiences. Oh, and it cost $50 million to make and millions more to market, making it one of the biggest bombs of the year. The same goes for Ari Aster’s Eddington, a political satire set during the coronavirus pandemic that turns out to be what most moviegoers want to remember. A24 produced the music for Celine Song’s star-studded romantic comedy The Materialist, which became a true mainstream hit. And there’s a chance to end things on a high with Marty Supreme, a table tennis drama starring one-man hype machine Timothée Chalamet. If it scores, A24 deserves additional recognition.
Grade: B-
