An homage to a late pop icon and theatrical debuts by YouTubers with remarkable staying power drove the first $1bn month of May at the North American box office since pre-pandemic 2019.
Figures released by Comscore show that combined ticket sales reached $1.07bn, led by Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic that opened through Lionsgate on April 24 and earned $210.3m of its current $341.6m running total in May.
The month’s 2026 box office increased 9.3% year-on-year over $977.6 in May 2025, when Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch dominated with a $260.1m haul from just nine days after the May 23 debut.
May 2026 dropped marginally against the $1.08bn recorded in 2019 when April 26 release Avengers: Endgame dominated the month on $382.7m. There were significant gains over a 2020-24 period that was variously impacted by the 2023 Hollywood strikes and the pandemic. Numbers are not adjusted for inflation.
’Michael’ moonwalks
While Michael directed by Antoine Fuqua opened top of the charts in the last weekend of April, it started May in second place on $54.4m after a 44% decline and was toppled by the $76.7m opening weekend (May 1-3) of Disney/20th Century Studios’ The Devil Wears Prada 2.
However Michael returned to the top in its fourth weekend and has been a monster for Lionsgate. The biopic starring ranks as the mini-major’s third-highest North American release of all time behind The Hunger Games: Catching Fire from 2013 on $424.7m and The Hunger Games from 2012 on $408m – lofty company indeed. Michael will debut on PVoD on June 9.
By the end of its second weekend over the May 8-10 session, Prada 2 stood at $143.4m and had already overtaken the lifetime total of director David Frankel’s 2006 predecessor. Prada 2 grossed $209.3m in May and after 33 days in release is nearing the end of its theatrical run. At time of writing, no PVoD date had been announced for Prada 2, which stars the returning core cast of Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci.
The third highest-grossing release in May was Lucasfilm/The Walt Disney Company’s The Mandalorian And Grogu, which earned $136.8m for the month following its $81.7m three-day and $98.1m four-day debut over the May 22-24/25 Memorial Day holiday weekend. Jon Favreau’s action sci-fi was originally intended to go straight to Disney+ as the fourth season of The Mandalorian and the studio pivoted during production delays in late 2023 due to the Hollywood strikes, seeing an opportunity to release a Star Wars feature for the first time since 2019’s The Rise Of Skywalker.
Despite an A- CinemaScore and an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Mandalorian And Grogu delivered the lowest opening weekend by any Star Wars film since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 – below even that of Solo: A Star Wars Story’s $84.4m three-day. However spin-offs have historically not been the top performers in the Star Wars universe and Disney executives have high hopes for May 28 2027, when Disney will release the core franchise instalment Star Wars: Starfighter from director Shawn Levy starring Ryan Gosling during the Star Wars 50th anniversary year.
Arrival of the YouTube creators
The fourth and fifth May slots belong to YouTube creators Curry Barker (aged 26) and Kane Parsons (aged 20) – names that were mostly familiar to their online fans and the Gen Z crowd but largely unfamiliar to Hollywood. Not any more.
Barker’s Obsession – reportedly made for around $750,000 – opened on May 15 and earned $105.7m of its $111m running total in May, with roughly $5.3m in ticket sales on Monday June 1. Focus Features swooped for most of the world in a reported $14m deal after the world premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
YouTube and Instagram creator Barker’s horror has pulled in a young audience as expected and demonstrated extraordinary staying power. After it opened on $17.2m over the May 15-17 session, word of mouth (and generally excellent reviews) ensured the film climbed 39.3% in its second weekend to $23.9m over the three-day Memorial Weekend and to $31.9m over four days. In its third go-round Obsession increased by 14.3% to $27.4m. No film since E.T. back in 1982 has increased its box office over the second and third weekends. For the record, E.T. steadily grew box office over its first nine sessions.
Ranking fifth is Kane Parsons’ Backrooms, which debuted in the last weekend of May (May 29-31) via A24 on an exceptional $81.4m. The feature is based on the creepypasta series of Backrooms online shorts that Parsons (who also goes by his creator tag Kane Pixels) contributed to and made hugely popular. Backrooms stands at $89.1m following a June-record Monday haul for an R-rated horror of $7.7m on June 1.
Interestingly, Barker and Parsons are talking different games. While Barker is showing early signs of prolonged theatrical ambition and is already in the editing room on Anything But Ghosts for Focus Features and attached to direct a The Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot at A24, Parsons has spoken of expanding the Backrooms universe into a TV series.
May also brought a new release from industry veteran Bob Yari’s fledgling distributor Magenta Light Studios in the form of Renny Harlin’s Deep Water starring Aaron Eckhart. The shark survival thriller produced by Gene Simmons from Kiss earned $4.3m in May and first made a splash as a 2023 Cannes pre-sales title on the Arclight Films slate.
Hugh Jackman family film The Sheep Detectives debuted on $15.1m over the May 8-10 session in fourth place and earned $54.6m in May. Paramount released James Cameron’s 3D concert film Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard And Soft in the May 8-10 session on $7m and the film earned $9.9m in May. Bafta winner I Swear started May in its second weekend of release through Sony Pictures Classics and stands at $1.1m.
PVoD and streaming dates had not been announced at time of writing.
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