Tops and flops: what to remember from the 2026 box office so far?

Halfway through, we take stock of the successes and failures of the current film year, in France and around the world.

The cinema year 2026 is on track to be an excellent vintage at the box office.

While the biggest blockbusters have not yet been released (Avengers: Doomsday, Dune 3, The Odyssey, spider–Man, Toy Story 5), the dynamics of the rooms are already very positive.

In France, there are currently 77.1 million admissions, an increase of +20.6% compared to the same period in 2025. The month of May alone reached nearly 15 million admissions, up 33.2% over one year. The signal is clear: attendance is picking up again, but above all it is stabilizing on a broader base than in 2025.

The contrast with 2025 is important. The year ended with around 156 million admissions, down around 14% compared to 2024, with a fairly clear feeling of fragility across the entire market. The start of 2026 reverses this trend without returning to the highest levels of the decade. One of the major lessons of this first half is the return of real locomotives capable of structuring the season.

Marsupilami stands out for the moment as the biggest success of the year at the French box office, with more than 6 million admissions, confirming the power of family adaptations when they find their audience. In his wake, Super Mario Galaxy, the movie exceeds 5 million, just like Michael. Behind, Pierre Niney confirms his power of seduction with Guruwhich passes 2 million, while Nakache and Toledano find scores more in line with their standards (after the failure ofA difficult year in 2023).

Big popular successes which boosted the figures. But not only that. Another indicator attracts attention: the number of films capable of reaching one million admissions. As of early June, 13 films have already exceeded this threshold in France, and 30 films have passed the 500,000 spectator mark. An important signal about the depth of the market.

Top 10 France 2026 (at the beginning of June)

Marsupilami – 6,133,384 entries
Great Mario Galaxy, the movie – 5,585,954 entries
Michael – 5,218,377 entries
The Devil Wears Prada 2 – 2,686,433 entries
Guru – 2,040,685 entries
Just an illusion – 1,901,248 entries
Jumpers — 1,523,524 entries
Children of the Resistance – 1,327,625 entries
Last Project Chance – 1,197,091 entries
Compostela – 1,182,433 entries

The good surprises and disappointments at the start of the year in France

Behind the expected locomotives, we can note some very nice surprises. Alexandra Lamy confirms her power of attraction with Compostela which gradually established itself thanks to word of mouth to exceed one million entries. The actress was also seen by nearly 700,000 curious people in For Pleasure. In a different register, The Bozharsky Affair also created a surprise at the start of the year, with Reda Kateb headlining.

Others have experienced significantly more difficult trajectories. Maglré a vast promotion and the aura of the first film, LOL 2 remained stuck under one million entries, very far from the success of the first part (3.6 million in 2009). Cocorico 2 achieves around 700,000 entries, almost three times less than the original 2023 box office. Even lower in the ranking, we can note that The Golden KsJérémy Ferrari’s first film, did not find its audience, nor did the schoolboy farce Flash 80 Font. Both had fewer than 300,000 admissions. It’s less than 250,000 for Bad pickthe new feature by Gérard Jugnot, or On the jobthe latest film by Valérie Donzelli, despite being pushed by critics.

Global trends

The global box office remains dominated by a few major titles, notably Super Mario Galaxy, the movie in the lead, which is the only one for the moment to pass the billion dollars in revenue. It could be joined shortly by Michaelon track to become the biggest biopic of all time (it will soon double Bohemian Rhapsody) while Ryan Gosling sent the Amazon studio into space, for the first time, with Last Project Chance.

Behind this trio, The Devil Wears Prada 2 managed to do twice as strong as the first part, 20 years earlier while Margot Robbie was able to find success with her ambitious adaptation of Emily Brontë.

World Top 10 2026 (early June)

Super Mario Galaxy, the movie – $1.02 billion
Michael – $888 million
Last Chance Project – $680 million
The Devil Wears Prada 2 – $664 million
Pegasus 3 – $656 million
Jumpers – $372 million
The Mandalorian and Grogu – $294 million
Stormwind – $242 million
Blades of the Guardians – $215 million
Backrooms – $213 million

Surprises and flops at the global box office

Two films are particularly attracting attention at the end of this first half of 2026: Obsession turned into a major success in genre cinema, driven by strong public reception and particularly high profitability. 210 million dollars in worldwide revenue, for a production budget of less than 1 million… It’s crazy. In the same genre, Backroomsadapted from a concept from the internet, exceeded 210 million dollars in a few days, shattering a host of records in the process. Two surprise hits, which confirm the capacity of horror cinema and hybrid formats to create global phenomena.

Alongside these successes which have marked the 2026 box office, several scathing flops have already been identified. Starting with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Groguwhich is performing well below the franchise’s historical standards (less than $300 million at the moment).

28 Years Later: Time of the Dead transcended criticism and the saga of Danny Boyle, but not the spectators: 58 million dollars is very little for the post-apocalyptic license. Same observation for Return to Silent Hill which peaks at 48 million for a budget of 23 million (very far from the 100 million of the first film in 2006), while The Bride by Maggie Gyllenhaal will be one of the biggest financial failures of the year: the film collected only 13 million dollars for a budget close to 90 million. Finally, we should also note that the return of Gus Van Sant went completely unnoticed: less than 4 million dollars worldwide…