Sci Fi Box Office: Weekly post tracking the performance of sci fi and fantasy movies in the theaters and on streaming.
Box Office Results
This last weekend brought a sci fi new entry to the theaters to vie for the Summer 2026 Blockbuster Sweepstakes, though it does not have the name recognition of some of this Summer’s other genre films. Coming from executive producer J.J. Abrams, The End of Oak premiered at the Number 3 slot (behind current Box Office champions Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey), bringing in $21 million in domestic receipts. That does not count as a particularly strong opening, but it is not surprising seeing as it is a late Summer entry and not a known property. It did bring in an additional $29 million in foreign receipts, and it still has a chance of breaking even on its budget of $80 million (a film typically must make double its budget in its domestic tally or two-and-half to three times worldwide to reach the break even point).
Among the Summer’s big releases, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has surpassed Deadpool and Wolverine as the highest-grossing R-rated film having earned over $1.33 million and still going strong as it heads into its sixth week. And Spider-Man: Brand New Day has crossed $2 billion world wide after three weeks, becoming the first film in that franchise to do so.
Not faring so well is Eli Roth’s The Ice Cream Man reboot which melted at the Box Office in its second week as it slid from Number 8 for its premiere to Number 23 with an 88% drop in ticket sales. Horror films are generally better at holding their audience compared to other genre entries, but the number of theaters this one was available in dropped notably from 1671 to 660, and it has not been getting very good feedback, currently holding a 27% Tomatometer Score (based on critics’ reviews) and a 46% Popcornmeter Score (based on audience response) on Rotten Tomatoes. It was made on a budget of only $5.5 million, but with a current global tally of $4.5 million, it will likely have to look to streaming and home video to turn a profit. Below are all of the genre films from the Top 20 (and a few just outside) based on the weekend results.
Domestic Box Office Results for the Weekend of August 14th to 16th:
| Rank | Prior | Title | Weekend Gross | Theaters | Average | Total Gross | Weeks |
| 1 | 1 | Spider-Man: Brand New Day | $70,711,990 | 4539 | $15,578 | $786,543,660 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | The Odyssey | $23,606,885 | 3217 | $7,338 | $505,087,255 | 5 |
| 3 | – | The End of Oak Street | $21,010,488 | 3446 | $6,097 | $21,010,488 | 1 |
| 23 | 8 | The Ice Cream Man | $231,000 | 660 | $350 | $2,821,000 | $2 |
Source: BoxOfficeMojo.com
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Streaming Results
The horror film Obsession made it to the Number 2 slot in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings the week of its premiere on Peacock, pulling in an estimated 456 million minutes of viewing (you can see my review of that one at this link). The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes reached the Number 7 slot for the week of its premiere on Netflix and Hulu, pulling 199 minutes of viewing. Meanwhile, Project Hail Mary held onto the Number 1 slot for a third week in a row for its run on Amazon’s Prime Video and MGM+. In the Netflix Top 10, the original film The Last House held at the Number 1 slot for a second week in a row, improving its viewership to 62.5 million hours watched across 33.5 million accounts. Following are all the genre films from the Nielsen Streaming Rankings and the Netflix Top 10:
Nielsen Streaming Rankings for the Week of July 13th:
| Rank | SVOD Provider | Program Name | Minutes Viewed (Millions) |
| 1 | Prime Video | Project Hail Mary | 699 |
| 2 | Peacock | Obsession | 456 |
| 4 | Disney+ | Descendants: Wicked Wonderland | 359 |
| 6 | Disney+ | Avatar: Fire and Ash | 208 |
| 7 | Hulu | Netflix | The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | 199 |
Source: Nielsen
Netflix Top 10 for the Week of August 10th (Ranked Based on Views):
| Rank | Title | Wks in Chart | Hours Watched | Views |
| 1 | The Last House | 2 | 62,500,000 | 33,500,000 |
| 3 | Extinction | 1 | 14,000,000 | 7,400,000 |
| 5 | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | 1 | 8,300,000 | 4,300,000 |
| 8 | Spider-Man: Far from Home | 4 | 7,300,000 | 3,400,000 |
| 9 | KPop Demon Hunters | 61 | 5,500,000 | 3,300,000 |
Source: Netflix
You can see the schedule of current and upcoming sci fi and fantasy movies at this link.
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