Universal Pictures has become the first studio to take $5 billion at the global box office in 2026, a milestone it reached on Friday, September 25. The total split into about $1.788 billion in North America and $3.218 billion in the rest of the world. The last time Universal passed the mark in a single year was 2017, before the pandemic reshaped the cinema business. No rival studio had reached the same total by late September.
Three films drove the bulk of the takings. “The Odyssey,” directed by Christopher Nolan, has earned more than $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing release in the studio’s history. Its opening weekend of $263.8 million was the largest of Nolan’s career and set the tone for a year in which the studio leaned on large-scale theatrical releases rather than a broad slate of smaller films.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” passed $1.2 billion and was the first film of 2026 to cross the billion-dollar line. “Michael,” a biopic of Michael Jackson directed by Antoine Fuqua, added more than $1 billion of its own after a global opening of $217 million, becoming the first biographical film to reach that figure worldwide and giving the studio a third title in the billion-dollar club.
The studio’s chairman, Donna Langley, shaped the slate over several years. The results point to continued appetite for event films shown first in cinemas, at a time when much of the industry has shifted spending toward streaming. All three of the biggest titles carried production budgets that only a wide theatrical run could hope to recoup, and cinema chains have leaned on such blockbusters to draw audiences back.
The figure arrives as rivals weigh how much to invest in cinema releases against direct-to-streaming strategies. Universal’s year suggests that a small number of very large films can still generate the takings needed to justify their cost. The performance will feature in debates about the health of the theatrical business, which has recovered unevenly since the pandemic, and the studio has further releases scheduled before the end of the year. Rival studios will watch the total closely as they set their own release plans.
