5 Reasons Why The October 2025 Box Office Hit A Three-Decade Low

October 2025's total domestic box office haul only came to $428.1 million. Exempting 2020, this marks the lowest-grossing October since 1998, when "Antz" was the biggest release and tickets were significantly cheaper. It's a devastating development for a theatrical landscape still trying to find its footing in a post-COVID world. In addition, it is a shocking decline from past 2025 months like May and July, which each scored $967+ million monthly hauls, ensuring movie theaters across the country were lined up. 

This stretch of the year shouldn't have been a ghost town. So what went wrong with October 2025's box office landscape? Turns out, a whole lot. Movie theaters and the month as a whole were rocked by a slew of external factors, including a barrage of would-be releases getting postponed to 2026, the absence of certain genres that dominated Octobers past, bad reviews plaguing award season hopefuls, and more.

All of these factors and more coalesced to ensure North America's worst October in nearly 30 years. Theaters are a product-driven marketplace that need movies to survive. October 2025's dreary box office numbers encapsulated that truth, as seen by the various reasons this month went so financially awry.

When "Mortal Kombat II" dropped its first trailer, it was still set for an October 24, 2025 release date. A month later, Warner Bros./New Line Cinema announced that the project would be postponed to May 2026. This was a devastating blow for October 2025's box office prospects, depriving the month of an anticipated blockbuster sequel. The abruptness made it impossible for any other tentpoles to suddenly shift up their release dates and take its place. Even if "Mortal Kombat II" had grossed only as much domestically as its pandemic-era predecessor ($42.32 million), it still would've outgrossed most October 2025 newcomers. 

Then there was the Michael Jackson biopic "Michael," which was once set to debut on October 3, 2025. Five months before its debut, though, U.S. distributor Lionsgate announced that the project would be delayed to April 2026. Hopes were high of "Michael" following in the footsteps of "The Martian" and "A Star is Born" as an early October award season contender that breaks through as a massive box office performer. 

These last-minute absences alone are a major reason why October 2025's box office was so bleak. The month's would-be blockbusters were M.I.A., and remaining titles like "The Smashing Machine" couldn't come close to making up for their absence.

Despite playing in theaters for three days, "Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl" became the fourth biggest movie of October 2025 with a $34.06 million haul. Skewing more to the youth put it ahead of countless other October 2025 newcomers, which largely appealed to adults. "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" drew 59% of its opening weekend audience from moviegoers over 45. Meanwhile, the debut of Disney blockbuster "Tron: Ares" only scored 30% of its revenue from patrons under 25. 

The biggest 2020s blockbusters so far have been driven by young audiences, whether it's "Barbie," "A Minecraft Movie," or "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Newer generations will always seek cinematic experiences that belong to and resonate with them. It's not just toy-friendly blockbusters that benefit from appealing to such viewers, as even the excellent opening of 2024's R-rated drama "Challengers" drew 76% of its earnings from those under the age of 35. That crucial demographic was largely left out in the cold throughout October 2025's dreary slate of features. 

Stoking Keanu Reeves, Depeche Mode, and Bruce Springsteen nostalgia left the box office in shambles as a result. As "Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl" and so many other recent moneymakers have proven, younger audiences drive theatrical hits.

"The Wild Robot" was the biggest movie of October 2024 by a considerable margin, despite debuting over September's final weekend. This critically acclaimed feature followed in the tradition of family movies propelling the October box office to dizzying heights. Whether it's "Shark Tale," "Antz," "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," or the first two "Hotel Transylvania" installments, lucrative family movies thrive in this period, and could have given October 2025 an extra jolt of life.

The best September 2025 could muster was "Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie," which had extremely limited appeal. October itself sported no major family titles that could cover up "Dollhouse's" financial shortcomings. It isn't like October 2025 needed an "Inside Out 2." In October 2018, "Smallfoot" and "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween," neither of which were massive releases, contributed a combined $90.1 million to the month, accounting for 11% of their respective October's gross. "The Addams Family 2," meanwhile, only brought in $52.6 million in October 2021, still enough to compose a little over 8% of the month's entire haul.

Family movies like "The Wild Robot" are downright essential for a typical October to reach satisfactory box office numbers. October 2025, on the other hand, lacked either a newcomer or September holdover in this genre, keeping its box office in the dumps.

It was an utter bloodbath for adult dramas in October 2025, but not necessarily because people are turning away from such films. The critically-acclaimed "Bugonia" opening to a robust $5 million in its wide release debut weekend was a signal that award season titles can still make a pretty penny theatrically. However, they need to have actually positive buzz to back them up. Good reviews won't make every arthouse title into an "Everything Everywhere All at Once," but they can help projects get on people's radar.

The new Daniel Day-Lewis star vehicle "Anemone," for instance, garnered largely mixed marks, with most declaring it a tedious slog — not exactly what audiences want to hear when they're figuring out which movies they want to shell $11+ on. "After the Hunt" and "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" received similarly meh responses from critics which, when combined with their respective marketing campaigns selling very dry, serious experiences,  failed to draw in audiences. Even the decently positive reviews of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" weren't enough to make it a must-see release. More acclaim on par with "Bugonia" could've turned some of these adult dramas into the big hits this month sorely needed.

October 2025 delivered ten releases that opened into 2,000+ locations, a bit under October 2015 and even slightly ahead of 2019's eight new titles that debuted at a similar capacity. However, among those ten was a Taylor Swift production that only played for three days. While the major studios delivered a slew of movies big and small in, say, October 2010, they were far scarcer 15 years later. Smaller studios and distributors like A24, Crunchyroll, Angel Studios, and AMC Theatres provided this month's biggest wide releases. 

There's only so big these outfits could make their respective titles appear given their limited marketing resources. Compare October 2025 to October 2021, where a steady stream of major studio productions ("No Time to Die," "Dune: Part One," "Halloween Kills") debuted on a weekly basis, and the box office prospered. October 2018, meanwhile, had multiple releases from big players like 20th Century Fox and Sony/Columbia Pictures scattered throughout, as well as significant titles like "Venom" and "A Star is Born" kicking off the month.

October 2025, with its deluge of smaller productions and theatrical re-releases of old movies like "Casper," couldn't hope to compete. If the major studios want to see pre-COVID-sized box office numbers, this kind of dwindled new release slate won't do.