Global box office reached $29.7bn in the first ten months of 2026, the best January–October total of the decade, according to Gower Street Analytics, which published its October review on Wednesday 11 November. October itself added $2.3bn, 13% more than a year earlier. Against the 2017–2019 average for the month, the pre-pandemic benchmark the data company uses, it was 28% short, dragged down by China’s weakest October in 12 years.
Leave China out and the picture is far stronger. The US, Canada and the rest of the world together took $2.0bn in October, their best October since 2019, and their year is only 4% behind pre-pandemic levels. With China in, the global year is 8% ahead of 2025 and 1% ahead of 2023 but still 11%, or $3.8bn, below the 2017–2019 average at current exchange rates.
Key facts
- Global box office, 1 January–31 October 2026: $29.7bn, up 8% on 2025 and 1% on 2023, 11% ($3.8bn) below the 2017–2019 average (Gower Street)
- October 2026: $2.3bn worldwide, up 13% year on year, 28% below the pre-pandemic October average
- October by region: US and Canada $621m (+33%), rest of the world excluding China $1.4bn (+16%), China $306m (−21%)
- Year to date: US and Canada $8.5bn, rest of the world excluding China $16.5bn, China $4.7bn, about 29%, 56% and 16% of the total (FilmBunch calculation)
- Gower Street’s $35.7bn full-year forecast needs about $6.0bn from November and December, roughly $3.0bn a month (FilmBunch calculation)
The films
No single title dominated. The month’s five biggest releases took $674m between them, only 29% of the global total. Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, from Constantin Film and Sony, led for a second month, adding $190m for a $397m running total, already the biggest of the eight films in the franchise. It had passed one million admissions in Japan by late October.
Amazon MGM Studios’ Verity took $171m, nearly double the lifetime grosses of the two Colleen Hoover adaptations before it, this year’s Reminders of Him ($89m) and last year’s Regretting You ($90m). It is the studio’s fourth release of 2026 to pass $100m worldwide. Paramount’s Heart of the Beast, David Ayer’s film starring Brad Pitt, added $118m for a $179m total. Universal’s horror Other Mommy ($105m) and Paramount’s Street Fighter ($90m) completed the top five.
| Rank | Film | Distributor | October gross | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Resident Evil | Sony / Constantin Film | $190m | $397m |
| 2 | Verity | Amazon MGM Studios | $171m | n/a |
| 3 | Heart of the Beast | Paramount | $118m | $179m |
| 4 | Other Mommy | Universal | $105m | n/a |
| 5 | Street Fighter | Paramount | $90m | n/a |
Source: Gower Street Analytics, worldwide gross. Running totals are given only where Gower Street publishes them.
North America and the rest of the world
The US and Canada took $621m, up 33% and level, within 1%, with 2021 as the second-best October of the decade. Verity led on $74m, ahead of A24’s documentary You Can See Everything ($60m), Other Mommy ($55m), Street Fighter ($52m), Resident Evil ($46m) and Warner Bros’ Clayface ($41m). No film passed $100m in the region during the month, which has happened only once before this year, in February. The year to date stands at $8.5bn, 20% up on 2025 and 9% below the benchmark.
Markets outside North America and China took $1.4bn, their best October of the decade and 60% of the world total. Their year to date, $16.5bn, is 20% ahead of 2025 and 14% ahead of 2023, but has slipped to 1% below the pre-pandemic average after drawing level a month earlier. Across the year, 18 of the 20 biggest markets Gower Street tracks are up on 2025, 16 of them by double digits.
What the national figures show
The official numbers already out in three markets support Gower Street’s picture, although none covers exactly the same period.
China. The official monthly report put the calendar month at RMB2.047bn from 55.9 million admissions, as we reported on 2 November. At the European Central Bank rate for 30 October that is about $308m, within 1% of Gower Street’s $306m. The National Day holiday, usually the second-biggest stretch of the Chinese year after the Spring Festival, took RMB1.165bn from 32.0 million admissions across 1–7 October, according to the National Film Administration. Chen Sicheng’s Traces of Justice (RMB652m), Resident Evil (RMB469m) and the comedy Mr. & Mrs. Pardon (RMB390m) took 74% of the month between them. Resident Evil is now the year’s third-biggest non-Chinese release in China, behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($232m) and The Odyssey ($116m), on Gower Street’s figures. China’s year to date, $4.7bn, is 29% behind 2025 and 37% below the pre-pandemic benchmark.
France. The CNC, France’s national film agency, estimates October admissions at 14.66 million, up 17.1%, and the first ten months at 151.82 million, up 24.8% on 2025 and 6.0% on 2024. Local films led the month: the comedy Ducobu et le fantôme de Saint-Potache was No. 1, Heart of the Beast second, and French titles filled the next three places. Fewer American films arrived, six against 15 a year earlier, with French openings at 32 against 35, although the CNC’s October covered four release weeks this year against five in 2025. Over ten months, French films hold an estimated 39.9% of admissions and American films 43.3%. The CNC counts tickets, not takings, and says its monthly estimates are accurate to within 5%.
UK and Ireland. Rentrak put the five weeks from 2 October to 5 November at £100.6m ($135m), up 35%, taking the year to £1.07bn, already more than any full year since the pandemic.
What comes next
Gower Street’s percentages imply a pre-pandemic benchmark of about $33.5bn for January–October. Split by region, China accounts for roughly $2.8bn of this year’s $3.8bn shortfall, nearly three quarters, although it now takes only about a sixth of the world’s box office (FilmBunch calculation).
The company raised its full-year forecast to $35.7bn on 29 October, as we reported. Reaching it needs about $6.0bn from November and December, close to $3.0bn a month: some 30% more than October delivered, and just above this year’s monthly average of $2.97bn. Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens worldwide from 20 November.
Our reading
The gap to pre-pandemic box office is now largely a Chinese problem. Outside China, cinemas are within 4% of their 2017–2019 average; China, with a sixth of the market, carries most of the shortfall. For distributors and sales agents, the recovery is being made everywhere but China, often by local films, as France’s October shows.
The forecast is the harder test. November and December must each beat October by almost a third, and China’s run this year gives little reason to expect help from there. The next evidence is Gower Street’s November review next month. More on the year’s numbers is in our global box-office coverage.
Sources
- Gower Street Analytics, October Verities: global box office remains top of decade; China still in slump (11 November 2026)
- Gower Street Analytics, CEO Dimitrios Mitsinikos discusses 2026 YTD and latest projections on CJ Cinema Summit ($35.7bn forecast, 29–30 October 2026)
- China Film Data Information Network (zgdypw), National Film Box Office Monthly Report, October 2026 (2 November 2026)
- National Film Administration, 2026 National Day holiday box office RMB1.165bn (8 October 2026)
- CNC, La fréquentation au mois d’octobre 2026 dépasse les 14 millions d’entrées (3 November 2026)
- Screen International, UK-Ireland box office for 2026 passes totals of every post-pandemic year (11 November 2026; Rentrak figures)
- Lionsgate UK, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (in cinemas 20 November 2026)
- European Central Bank, euro foreign exchange reference rates, 30 October 2026 (USD 1.1172, CNY 7.4326; RMB6.65 per USD) and 5 November 2026 (GBP→USD 1.3459)