Backrooms and Obsession Boost Movie Theaters to Major Win at May Box Office

By all box office measures, May was a month to remember for major exhibitors after movies like Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Obsession and Backrooms performed at the multiplex.

Cinemark on Monday said delivered its highest-ever domestic box office performance for the month of May, driven by a steady and more varied slate of Hollywood movies from its major studio suppliers.

“The sustained box office momentum we have seen year-to-date reflects the impact and importance of a healthy, well-balanced release cadence of compelling films. Audiences are showing up for a wide range of content, with particular strength in younger moviegoers, resulting in impressive performances across blockbusters and varied small- to mid-tier titles,” Sean Gamble, Cinemark president and CEO, said in a statement.

Mega-exhibitor AMC Theatres said it had recorded its highest-attended month of May since 2019, both domestically and internationally at its Odeon Cinemas circuit. For Adam Aron, CEO of parent AMC Entertainment, his own longstanding calls to the major studios for a compelling and varied Hollywood film slate to reignite theatrical momentum had been answered.

“These immensely satisfying results reflect the strength of a diverse film slate, one that was driven both by established blockbusters with their well-known characters along with entirely new IP. This current measure of success, combined with the many compelling movies coming to our screens in the weeks and months ahead, gives us great confidence as we look to the rest of 2026,” Aron said in his own statement.

It’s not only blockbusters that did the business for exhibitors last month as smaller to mid-size titles also performed, and especially for horror fans. Curry Barker’s debut feature film Obsession for Focus Features opened well ahead of expectations with $16 million, and director Kane Parson’s Backrooms shattered its own expectations with an $81 million opening in North America for A24.

Getting young people into theaters in big numbers in May was also great news for the major exhibitors when it came to food and beverage sales, and encouraging for box office projections for the rest of 2026 when the cinema chains need consistency to sustain their theatrical box office legs. “Undoubtedly, you will understand and appreciate our enthusiasm when you look at the line up of just some of the films coming to our theatres over the next five weekends,” Aron added as he teed up titles like Scary Movie, Masters of the Universe, Disclosure Day, Toy Story 5, Supergirl and Minions & Monsters.