Record June Caps off a Record Second Quarter at the 2018 Box Office

After delivering a record first quarter, 2017 struggled in the second and third quarters before rebounding in the fourth. 2018 is having no such problem. With yearly grosses already topping $6 billion, outpacing 2017 by +10% and the record year of 2016 by nearly +11%, 2018 has already brought us the second largest first quarter ever and now a record second quarter, fueled by record months in April and June. Additionally, the year has seen record grosses in the winter season, the second largest spring season ever and summer 2018 that is currently pacing +19% ahead of last year with the third largest summer ever at the same point in the season.

Much of 2018 has been driven by the success of Disney, which makes up over 36% of the overall yearly market share thanks in large part to the blockbuster hits Black Panther ($699.8m), Avengers: Infinity War ($672.6m) and the June release of Incredibles 2 ($448.3m so far). As of the end of June, those three films alone accounted for nearly $1.8 billion domestically, nearly 29% of the year's total box office.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Disney led the way in June with $556 million from five films, led by the mid-June release of Pixar's Incredibles 2, which topped all films for the month. The animated feature brought in $425.5 million in June and has since raised that total to nearly $450 million. The film ranks as the second largest Pixar release ever and the second largest animated film ever. It will soon pass Finding Dory ($486.3m) to top both lists.

2018 already has two $600+ million releases this year in Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, both belonging to Disney. The only other time any single year had two $600+ million releases was 2015 with Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.6m) and Universal's Jurassic World ($652.2m). Add to that, Disney will surely soon have only the third film ever to top $700 million in Black Panther, which is now just $177,493 away from hitting that mark as of publication.

As of the end of June, Disney has amassed a whopping $2.2 billion in domestic ticket sales, pacing +66.4% ahead of last year and +22% ahead of their record 2016, which saw the studio become the first ever to top $3 billion in domestic ticket sales in a calendar year. Looking at the second half of 2018, the studio will release their final Marvel movie of the year this coming weekend with Ant-Man and the Wasp followed by Christopher Robin in August, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Wreck-It Ralph 2 in November, before ending the year with Mary Poppins Returns on December 25. Look for more records to be broken!

Universal finished in second among all studios in June, led by the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on June 22. The sequel to the monster success of Jurassic World in 2015 brought in $246 million in June and has since raised that total to nearly $275 million domestically.

Universal finished June with $661.5 million, though is still pacing -32.7% behind last year, which ranked as the studio's second largest year ever with $1.528 billion. Looking ahead to July the studio will release The First Purge this Wednesday (7/4) and also has the Dwayne Johnson actioner Skyscraper (7/13) and the sequel Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (7/20).

Warner Bros. finished in third for the month with a total of $167.6 million from eight films in release. Leading the way was the franchise spin-off Ocean's 8, which debuted with $41.6 million on June 8 and has so far brought in over $116 million. Warner Bros. is coming off their second best year ever in 2017, but is currently pacing -21% behind last year as of the end of June. The studio still has some big titles yet to be released including the latest film in the Conjuring franchise, The Nun (9/7), along with the grittier Jungle Book retelling in October's Mowgli, as well as Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in November and Aquaman in December. This is not to mention the possible awards contender A Star is Born in October.

Finishing fourth for the month was Fox, which didn't have a new release in June, but still managed to deliver $78.8 million for the month, ~99% of which came from Deadpool 2. Since releasing in mid-May, Deadpool 2 has grossed over $311 million at the domestic box office, becoming the studio's fifth highest grossing release of all-time.

For the year, Fox has brought in $724.1 million as of the end of June, pacing -13.3% behind last year. The studio doesn't have any new releases planned for July. Upcoming titles include the YA adaptation The Darkest Minds in August and The Predator in September. In the meantime, many will be keeping a close eye on the possible Fox-Disney merger after the Department of Justice approved Walt Disney Company's $71 billion bid for 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets. Fox shareholders will vote on the deal on July 27.

Rounding out the top five is A24, which brought in $41.2 million in June thanks in large part to the $38.6 million brought in by the studio's early June release of Hereditary. The horror hit has since brought in nearly $40 million and ranks as the second largest A24 release ever behind Lady Bird. Thus far 2018 has been a success for the small distributor as it has brought in $64.4 million from nine films, pacing ~67% ahead of last year, which marked the studio's largest year ever, topping $100 million in domestic ticket sales.

Elsewhere, it is worth pointing out that Roadside Attractions has so far grossed $102.8 million in 2018 from six releases. This is already $27 million than the $75.7 million the studio brought in in 2016, which previously served as their highest grossing year ever. The studio's success this year has been dominated by the release of I Can Only Imagine, which has brought in over $83 million so far, vastly outperforming the studio's previous highest grossing release Manchester by the Sea ($47.69m).

Overall, June delivered a record $1.269 billion in domestic sales, topping the previous record set in 2013 with $1.246 billion. For the year, an estimated 675 million tickets have been purchased at the 2018 box office as of the end of June. Over the last 20 years this is the seventh largest number of tickets sold by the end of June and the most since 2010 (679.7m).

Finally, a list of selected films that closed out their domestic runs in June is featured below, in descending order by cumulative gross.

1. Peter Rabbit (Sony) - Closed with $115.25M after 126 days in release
2. Game Night (New Line) - Closed with $69.M after 119 days in release
3. Blockers (Universal) - Closed with $59.84M after 70 days in release
4. I Feel Pretty (STX) - Closed with $48.8M after 63 days in release
5. Tyler Perry's Acrimony (Lionsgate) - Closed with $43.55M after 70 days in release
6. Sherlock Gnomes (Paramount) - Closed with $43.24M after 84 days in release
7. Love, Simon (Fox) - Closed with $40.83M after 91 days in release
8. Truth or Dare (Universal) - Closed with $40.72M after 56 days in release
9. Tully (Focus) - Closed with $9.23M after 35 days in release
10. God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (Pure Flix) - Closed with $5.73M after 77 days in release
11. Action Point (Paramount) - Closed with $5.06M after 14 days in release
12. Beirut (Bleecker) - Closed with $5.02M after 65 days in release
13. You Were Never Really Here (Amazon) - Closed with $2.53M after 70 days in release
14. Pope Francis - A Man of His Word (Focus) - Closed with $1.82M after 28 days in release
15. Finding Your Feet (Roadside) - Closed with $1.42M after 70 days in release