The Australian box office has officially crossed $1 billion for 2026, making it the biggest year at the cinema since 2019.
Australians have returned to the big screen in droves, and with records skyrocketing across every genre, cinema is very much back in the picture.
It’s been a year of record-breakers. The momentum started building in February, when Valentine’s Day delivered the biggest box office since 2016, led by Wuthering Heights starring Aussie icons Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. It didn’t let up, with five consecutive $100 million months stacking up from April to August.
May delivered its biggest box office on record, powered by the best Mother’s Day weekend in history, as Michael became the second biggest biopic of all time and The Devil Wears Prada 2 strutted its way to the third biggest comedy.
Winter went on to become the biggest on record at the box office, with August capping off the season as the highest-grossing August ever. Audiences lapped up a duo of dreams in The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which together outgrossed the recordholding double billing of Barbenheimer.
Both films have since swung into the all-time top 10, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day at number five and The Odyssey at number nine. The Odyssey is also now the top-earning IMAX film ever – an epic journey indeed.
Horror fans had a killer year too. Obsession became the highest-grossing horror film of all time, with Backrooms and Resident Evil joining the genre’s top 10.
“Crossing $1 billion is a landmark for Australian cinema. It’s been driven by audiences of every age turning up again and again, across every genre, for the kind of shared, can’t-miss experiences you don’t get anywhere else,” said Guy Burbidge, managing director at Val Morgan Cinema.
“For brands, that’s the plot twist not to miss. Cinema delivers an engaged audience on the biggest screen there is, and that audience is growing.
“What’s next? All roads lead to December where, within just 24 hours of each other and a week out from Christmas, Avengers: Doomsdayand Dune: Part 3 land in cinemas. Brace yourselves for a cultural moment for the ages, with many more records smashed.”
