• by Wayne Friedman , 7 hours ago

Driven by “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and other movie blockbusters, the summer box-office period has hit a new record -- $4.76 billion in domestic ticket sales -- according to estimates from Rentrak.

This tops the record $4.755 billion in 2013 for that year’s summer period, with movies including “Iron Man 3,” “Despicable Me 2” and “Man of Steel.”

Total year-to-date box-office revenue is up 21% to $7.3 billion (through Sept. 8) versus a year ago.

National TV advertising spend to promote wide-release movies is down 15% to $457.4 million (through Sept. 6), according to estimates from iSpot.

This is only the second time since the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020 that the summer movie season exceeded $4 billion. In 2023, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” pushed the summer box-office period to $4.09 billion.

For this period so far “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has pulled in $923 million domestically (and $2.4 billion globally). Universal’s “The Odyssey” is in second place at $589 million domestically ($1.62 billion worldwide).

This latest edition of “Spider-Man” is poised to surpass 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which currently has the all-time record of $936 million.

After “Brand New Day” and “Odyssey” this summer are Walt Disney’s “Toy Story 5” at $479.7 million, Focus Features’ “Obsession” at $263.5 million and Lionsgate's “Michael” at $242.5 million, according to IMDb Box Office Mojo.

This summer’s movie ticket sales are calculated from May 1 through Labor Day on September 7.

Analysts note there has been no adjustment for inflation. This year’s summer moviegoing period has a duration of 130 days versus 123 days because of the scheduling of Labor Day.

In May of this year, Comscore sold off its box-office analysis division to a private-equity firm, Advaya Capital for $70 million. Now that the acquisition has been completed that box-office business returned to its original Rentrak brand name.

More than decade before, in 2013, Comscore and Rentrak merged their two companies. The box-office tracking business was rebranded as Comscore Movies.