Two of the summer’s biggest movies are now operating at billion-dollar scale.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” earned an estimated $144.5 million in North America in its second weekend and pushed its worldwide total to about $1.67 billion after 10 days, according to The Associated Press. The film has maintained an unusually strong pace after a record domestic opening.

At the same time, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” crossed $1 billion worldwide. Entertainment Weekly reported that the two films have become the defining theatrical releases of the summer, with both drawing global audiences at a scale that remains rare even for established franchises and major filmmakers.

The results matter beyond bragging rights. The theatrical business has spent years trying to rebuild attendance after the pandemic while competing with streaming and increasingly expensive home-entertainment options. Recent revenue gains have often depended on premium ticket prices, IMAX and other higher-priced formats rather than a full return to pre-2020 attendance.

These two films show what happens when audiences decide a title is worth leaving home for.

“Brand New Day” has the built-in advantage of one of the world’s most recognizable superhero franchises. “The Odyssey,” by contrast, is being sold heavily on Nolan’s name, large-format spectacle and the idea that the movie itself is an event. Their paths are different, but the result is similar: both have become appointment viewing.

The AP also reported that “The Odyssey” has become Nolan’s highest-grossing film on an unadjusted basis and has set a new domestic IMAX benchmark. Meanwhile, the strength of “Spider-Man” is helping push the summer box office toward levels not seen in several years.

Why it matters

The most important signal may be that theatrical audiences have not disappeared. They have become more selective.

Studios can still generate enormous turnout, but the threshold for what qualifies as a must-see theatrical release is higher than it used to be. A familiar character alone is not enough, and prestige alone is not enough. The movies that break through increasingly have to feel like cultural events.

For theaters, that makes blockbuster concentration both encouraging and risky. When the right films arrive, audiences will still show up in huge numbers. The harder question is what happens in the weeks when they do not.