Highly anticipated movies like ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ collected $589 million and $923 million, respectively|@odysseymovie; @SpiderManMovie|X

The US summer domestic box office just recorded its highest-grossing season of all time, bringing in $4.76 billion from May through Labor Day, according to Rentrak.

It signals that theaters are slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic-era slump.

Highly anticipated movies like Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($923 million), The Odyssey ($589 million), Toy Story 5 ($480 million), and The Devil Wears Prada 2 ($221 million) drove people to theaters.

Gen Z helped fuel a string of breakout hits, like Obsession ($263 million) and Backrooms ($197 million).

But it wasn’t all rosy
Notable high-budget flops included Disney’s $250 million live-action Moana, DC’s Supergirl, and Amazon MGM’s Masters of the Universe.

Per Rentrak data, it is also the first summer in which every month surpassed $1 billion: May ($1.07 billion), June ($1.08 billion), July ($1.18 billion), and August ($1.27 billion).