The final box office figures for 2025 are out. It's been a huge year for movies, with four movies hitting the $1 billion mark and the Minecraft movie approaching the fifth. But this was the first time in a decade that no Marvel film had a theatrical release but failed to crack the top 10 at the global box office.
According to Box Office Mojo, the #1 movie of 2025 was Ne Zha 2, a movie you've probably never heard of. It is a Chinese animation that was very popular in its home country. Chinese moviegoers are also largely responsible for Zootopia 2, the second highest-grossing film of 2025. The film, which was a hit in China and grossed nearly $1.6 billion, beat Frozen 2 to take the Disney animated record box office crown.
But it still needs to work a little harder to overtake Inside Out 2 and keep up with Pixar.
There were no Marvel movies among the highest-grossing movies of 2025
Moving down the top ten we have Avtar: Fire and Ash. Even though the aforementioned Minecraft movie was released in December, it's Superman that ranks among the top 10 box office movies of 2025. Yes. Superhero movies are successful, but for the first time since 2011, Marvel movies aren't.
The highest-grossing Marvel film of 2025 was Fantastic Four: First Steps, which grossed $521 million worldwide and was the 12th-biggest film of the year. Captain America: Brave New World came in 15th place with $415 million, while the far superior Thunderbolts took 2025 MCU bronze but ended its theatrical run with $382 million, putting it in 16th place overall.
According to Metacritic, this is the third best year for video games since 2011.
Clair Obscur, Blue Prince, and Hades 2 are some of this year's headliners.
All of this means that for the first time since 2011, there will be no Marvel films among the top 10 highest-grossing films of the year in 2025. Let's go back to the early days of the MCU, when we'd only seen a few movies. For those of you trying to figure out what exactly Marvel was releasing that year, the only movie there was was Thor (yes, how long ago are we talking about, it feels like a lifetime ago). Thor earned $449 million at the box office that year, enough for 15th place.
Marvel has had a film in the top 10 every year since 2012.
Between 2011 and 2025, there was a year that didn't have a Marvel movie in the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the year, and that was 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, theaters have been closed for most of the year. Not only that, but Marvel didn't even try to put anything in during the brief period that the doors were open. Black Widow's release was delayed until the following year, and despite being released on Disney Plus the same day, it grossed a total of $379 million.
It's a shame that 2025 was the year Marvel fell to its lowest box office in 14 years, as it was one of the best years for MCU movies since the Infinity Saga. Thunderbolts was great and First Steps was really great. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers Doomsday both scheduled for release this year in 2026, it's highly unlikely that Marvel will miss the top 10 again.
- release date
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July 25, 2025
- run-time
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115 minutes
- supervision
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Matt Shakman
- author
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Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson, Cat Wood, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee
- producer
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Kevin Feige
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pedro pascal
Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic
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vanessa kirby
Sue Storm / Invisible Woman
