Screening The Summer: Film's Biggest Winners and Losers of the Season

The motto of "survive until ‘25” may have been reiterated by nervous industry leaders as Hollywood faced the pressure to meet expectations after the muted box office of the previous year. Although this summer saw successes in the form of Lilo & Stitch and Superman, the overall market share took a downward spiral, with many studios failing to find breakout hits. As is the case with any summer movie season, 2025 wasn’t a disaster, but any particularly exuberant celebrations should be reigned in; for every major victory, there was a deterrent that could impact the future of the industry.

Although the summer didn’t have a “Barbenheimer”-style cultural moment, there were certainly major victories for each major studio, as highly anticipated titles were churned out nearly every week. This may have in itself been an issue; when Jurassic World Rebirth, Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are all released within a month of one another, some audiences may choose only one opportunity. It was a summer that was light on counter-programming, which may explain why a romantic drama like Materialists and a theatrical re-release of the Netflix sensation K-pop Demon Hunters performed so well.

It’s not all about box office, as this summer also saw the release of some high-profile arthouse films, including the lovely Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck, the low-key family drama A Little Prayer, and Wes Anderson’s idiosyncratic caper, The Phoenician Scheme. Nonetheless, none of the summer’s films have captured the same award season buzz that Sinners did when it debuted back in April, even if horror buffs might be mounting a Best Supporting Actress campaign for Amy Madigan’s witchy performance in Weapons.

Hollywood investors, theater owners, acting talent, critics and your average cinephile had a roller-coaster ride over the summer, filled with both highs and lows (as well as Highest 2 Lowest, the new Spike Lee joint). Here are this summer movie season’s winners and losers.

Winner: The Dallas International Film Festival

Kicking off at the end of April, this year’s DIFF started the summer on a high note with its biggest lineup yet, which included short films that are now eligible to contend in this year’s Academy Award categories. The powerful documentary A Portrait of a Postman earned the Best Texas Feature award, earning rave reviews for its empathetic portrayal of the post office worker Kermit Oliver. Following its win in the Narrative Feature category, the family drama Omaha was picked up by Greenwich Entertainment, who plan to campaign the film during award season for the extraordinary performance by John Magaro as a struggling father.

Loser: The Marvel Cinematic Universe

It seems like a lifetime ago that Avengers: Endgame reached over $2.7 billion globally, because the folks at Marvel Studios have been forced to recognize that Stan Lee’s iconic characters no longer have the same cultural cache as they once did. While this summer’s Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps were both well-received, the steep drop-off after their initial weekends suggests that these films have become “fans only” events, as they are no longer accessible to audiences that haven’t caught up with all the shows on Disney+. If next year’s Avengers: Doomsday performs similarly, then this renaissance of comic book films may have finally been on the decline.

Winner: IMAX

A big trend of this year’s top-grossers was the added revenue of premium screen format, including several in the Dallas area; in fact, Cinemark Webb Chapel is among the few theaters in the world capable of screening 70mm films like The Brutalist and One Battle After Another in their intended format. The immersive sound design and expanded field of vision certainly aided in the success of a spectacle film like F1, which featured groundbreaking camera technology used to capture in-vehicle shots during real Formula One races. It also aided “revival” screenings of classic concerts, such as the iconic performance of Sign o' the Times.

Loser: Animation

The fact that K-pop Demon Hunters, a film that was readily available on Netflix since June, was able to become one of the year’s top animated releases after a single weekend sing-along release should indicate the disappointing crop of titles this summer. Despite grossing over $2 billion in China alone, the international sensation Ne Zha 2 failed to make an impact domestically, even with an English dub that included the vocal talents of Michelle Yeoh. After Elio became one of the biggest flops in Pixar’s history, higher-ups at Disney are probably counting down the days until Zootopia 2 hits theaters over Thanksgiving.

Winner: Dakota Johnson

Dakota Johnson got no shortage of bad press for last year’s Madame Web, a film so disastrous that it practically became a meme without anyone seeing it. Nonetheless, Johnson was able to earn herself a comeback with Materialists, an old-fashioned romantic dramedy that quietly became one of the best-performing titles in A24’s history. Johnson also delivered a terrific performance in the quirky screwball comedy Splitsville, a hit from this year’s Cannes Film Festival that earned a strong response from limited audiences in the Dallas area during the first week of September. If she continues with this streak, Johnson may be able to get everyone to forget she ever starred in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise.

Loser: Sequels No One Asked For

Hollywood often struggles to invest in new ideas, but at this point, are sequels even a guaranteed success? The first M3GAN became a mini-sensation thanks to ironic viewings, but its more self-aware sequel may have flopped by trying to be in on the joke. Given the disastrous performance of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Smurfs, Karate Kid: Legends and even the John Wick spin-off, Ballerina, this summer proved audiences had reached a limit of being served the same formula over and over again. Perhaps the success of Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning was partially due to the fact that it promised audiences that it was the “final” time Tom Cruise would be hanging from the side of a plane.

Winner: Warner Bros.

After starting the year off strong with A Minecraft Movie and Sinners, Warner Bros. set a new record of releasing seven consecutive films that grossed over $40 million on their opening weekends. Perhaps that type of response was expected for something with a built-in audience like Superman or Final Destination: Bloodlines, but seeing audiences flock to check out original projects like F1 and Weapons was a nice surprise. Although Warner Bros-Discovery CEO David Zazlav has earned a fair amount of backlash for his ruthless business decisions, the studio has another anticipated release coming soon with One Battle After Another, a new action thriller bound for IMAX starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Loser: The Weeknd’s Acting Career

Hurry Up Tomorrow, a vanity star vehicle for Abel Tesfaye, redefined what a flop could be; despite a heavy marketing campaign centered on the album of the same name, the film earned less than $8 million worldwide and drew comparisons to the Weeknd’s critically reviled HBO show The Idol. Maybe someone thought that casting The Weeknd as a fictionalized version of himself could lead to an 8 Mile-style hit, but the fact that Hurry Up Tomorrow is largely centered on the "pressure of being an artistic genius” made it all the more intolerable. To see a legitimately great performance by a musician-turned-actor from this summer, check out A$AP Rocky’s fun turn as a maniacal kidnapper in Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest.