Universal Becomes First Studio To Pass $5 Billion At Year-To-Date Global Box Office

After becoming the first studio to cross the $4 billion global mark at the 2026 box office, Universal is now the first studio again this year, shooting past $5B worldwide.

Broken out, Uni counts $1.788B at the domestic box office and $3.218B abroad.

The milestone reps the third time in Universal’s history that it has surpassed $5 billion in a single calendar year. Already, Universal is 29% ahead of its final 2025 global tally of $3.89B. The milestone, reached with this week’s grosses, comes less than a decade after Universal previously clicked past $5B at the global box office in 2017, following its first achievement of the milestone in 2015.

The success this year has been propelled by Christopher Nolan and Universal’s highest grossing movie ever in The Odyssey (with more than $1.73B and counting), Illumination and Nintendo sequel Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($1B), Lionsgate’s Michael ($656.4M international), Focus Feature’s highest grossing movie ever, Obsession ($519M), and Illumination’s Minions & Monsters ($523.6M). Three of the five pics that surpassed $1B (Michael being one of them) were released by Universal.

Other stats regarding this milestone:

–Universal releases account for three of the only five filmUniversal International and Focus Features films represent five of the 10 highest-grossing films worldwide in 2026: The Odyssey (#2), Michael (#4), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (#5), Minions & Monsters (#8) and Obsession (#9).

–Universal has topped the global weekend box office for 11 weekends so far this year.