Top Franchises Lead Summer Box Office

As the summer movie season comes to a close, all five of the films that have topped the U.S. box office have featured major licensing programs.

April 6, 2018

Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron

lead season's highest-grossing films.

As the summer movie season comes to a close, all five of the films that have topped the U.S. box office have featured major licensing programs.

Of course the big news of the summer was Universal's record-breaking season with

Jurassic World

topping both domestic and international lists and bringing in $1.6 billion worldwide. Rounding out the summer's top five domestic movies was another Universal release,

Pitch Perfect 2

. Internationally, Universal has set a record for the highest-grossing year ever, bringing in a total of $3.89 billion with four of the five top-earning international 2015 films to-date.

Four of the top five U.S. summer films were supported by wide-reaching, global licensing programs (details available

below). The only exception was the more niche, adult comedy

Pitch Perfect 2

. Universal took a more targeted approach to the merchandising for this film with partnerships such as a

limited edition apparel line at Express.

U.S. Summer* Box Office