Foul-mouthed superheroes, babbling Minions and plenty of Anxiety (the animated kind) have propelled this summer’s box office past the winter and spring theatrical doldrums, marking one bright spot in an otherwise industry-wide gloom.

Boosted by a bevy of sequels, the summer’s gross box office receipts (starting from the first Friday in May) is projected to total roughly $3.6 billion through the Labor Day weekend, according to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

That’s short of last year’s “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”-fueled haul of $4 billion, but still higher than summer totals in 2022, 2021 and 2020 — a positive sign for theater owners and studio executives who weathered a tough January-to-May stretch of limited and underperforming films.

And with a much-anticipated fall and winter slate of films including “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Wicked” and “Moana 2,” industry insiders are sounding more upbeat for the end of the year and beyond.

“If we can carry this same momentum that we have this summer currently into the fall and then into the beginning of 2025, I think exhibition will be very pleased,” said Jim Orr, president of theatrical distribution at Universal Pictures. “We can truly say we’re back.”

The optimism is a far cry from earlier this year, when the industry collectively wrung its hands as the box office struggled to captivate audiences. That concern turned into panic by Memorial Day, when films such as “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Garfield” did not perform up to high expectations, leading to the worst Memorial Day weekend box office in almost three decades.
(“Garfield” ended up grossing more than $257 million in global box office on a reported budget of $60 million.)

Industry observers now see that five-month stretch as the low point in the theatrical slump, fueled in part by a lingering slowdown from the pandemic and the dual strikes by writers and actors, which disrupted the production and marketing of films.

“This industry took a double gut punch,” said Charles Rivkin, chairman of the Motion Picture Assn. “First we had COVID, which turned our $11-billion industry into zero overnight. And then when we were recovered from that, we immediately had the strikes.”

Morale was low at the outset of the season. Save for a few successes, such as Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” May releases — from Universal’s “Fall Guy” to Warner Bros.’ “Furiosa” — mostly fell flat.

“The expectations for ’24 were definitely tempered,” Dergarabedian said. “We didn’t have a Marvel movie kicking off the summer.”

But starting with June’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” the box office started to pick up. It would be the first of several sequels to power the all-important summer box office.

Animated films helped to power the rebound.

“Inside Out 2” and “Despicable Me 4” put up blockbuster numbers, which is notable because animation was one of the slowest genres to recover from the pandemic due to families’ wariness to return to theaters and the ease of watching movies on streaming platforms.

With several animated films set for release later this year, worldwide family box office revenue could reach $6.1 billion, which would surpass 2018’s total, said David A. Gross, who publishes the FranchiseRe movie industry newsletter.

“It’s fair to say that since ‘Super Mario’ in spring of 2023, family moviegoing is back to pre-pandemic levels,” he said.

To date, the domestic box office has generated about $5.6 billion, down from $6.6 billion at this point last year, according to Comscore. But the summer box office has made up a lot of ground.

“I don’t like to spike the ball on the five-yard line, but I think we’re in the right direction,” said Rich Gelfond, chief executive of Imax Corp., the giant-screen technology company that operates out of Playa Vista. “We’re certainly on the road back.”

One reason for the recovery: Walt Disney Co. got its groove back this summer, with the help of “Inside Out 2.”

The Pixar animated sequel to 2015’s “Inside Out” drew $1.6 billion worldwide, making it the highest grossing animated title of all time, and the top movie of the summer season. Then, Disney-owned Marvel Studios packed a punch with the R-rated “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which amassed $1 billion in global revenue and became the second-highest grossing film of the summer.

“Historically, there’s been a bit of a ceiling for R-rated movies just because a bunch of kids can’t come,” said Greg Marcus, chief executive of Marcus Theatres, a Milwaukee, Wis.-based chain with about 80 locations spanning 17 states.

But the reception for the movie “speaks to the … clamoring for product. The people are saying, ‘If you build it, we will come,’” he said

The box office showing for Pixar and Marvel was significant, as the key Disney brands have struggled to consistently deliver in recent years. The House of Mouse’s uncharacteristically weak post-pandemic track record was one reason box office analysts drastically lowballed opening weekend projections for “Inside Out 2.”

“Everyone had high hopes for that film,” said Sean Gamble, CEO of Cinemark, the Plano, Texas-based theater chain with more than 300 locations, including 20 in Southern California. “We certainly did, but that proved out to be way beyond what we expected. It’s probably one of the biggest outperforming films … we’ve seen in a very, very long time.”

Tony Chambers, executive vice president of theatrical distribution at Disney, said, “Quality matters, and quality delivers” — echoing a key point from Disney CEO Bob Iger, who has ordered sweeping cuts across the company to stem losses from its streaming business and has directed creative departments to focus on theatrical and not crank out as much content.

Appealing to broader, multicultural audiences doesn’t hurt either, Chambers said.

“It sounds very simple, but if you cast your net wide enough, the more fish you’re likely to get,” he said. “That’s been the common denominator for all the movies that have worked successfully this summer.”

To be sure, the movie industry still faces massive challenges, regardless of this summer’s slight reprieve. Box office revenue is still below pre-pandemic levels, and it’s unclear whether it will ever fully rebound as viewing habits shift.

So far this summer, theaters across the U.S. sold 274 million tickets, an 18% decline from last summer, according to industry data firm EntTelligence. That pales in comparison to the 406 million tickets sold in summer 2019 — a time when moviegoers weren’t yet accustomed to watching major releases at home on streaming services.

What’s more, film financing has become more difficult as interest rates have increased. China is no longer a reliable market for boosting American films’ box office revenue. And studios have slashed budgets and laid off thousands of employees as they struggle to balance their massive spending on streaming services with the lower-than-expected returns.

Still, if box office returns for the second half of this year are down by only 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels, that would be a good result, Gross said.

And this summer, the charge was led by a plethora of sequels.

“Sometimes people question, ‘Are there too many sequels?’’’ Gamble said. “Across the board, with compelling stories, they work. And we’ve seen many, many examples of that throughout the course of this summer.”

Of course, simply adding more chapters to a franchise doesn’t necessarily guarantee success (see: “Furiosa”). But this summer’s sequels have been “solid,” leading to some level of reassurance for the industry.

“When these things are hitting, and when the box office is flowing, it just helps everything about the business,” Gross said. “It helps everyone relax.”

While original and nonfranchise films didn’t lead the box office this year, they certainly gave it a boost.

Surprise breakout hits such as Neon’s masterfully marketed horror flick “Longlegs (the indie studio’s biggest movie to date) and Sony’s adaptation of the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel “It Ends With Us” weren’t nearly as lucrative as the likes of “Deadpool” or “Inside Out 2.” But they played an important role, exceeding expectations and keeping the popcorn lines moving.repeats “flowing” from quote.

“Every dollar counts in the summer, and those … films added significantly to the bottom line,” Dergarabedian said. “Every $20 million times five … is $100 million. So it all adds up to what turned out to be a pretty magnificent summer.”

Emelyn Stuart, owner of Stuart Cinema and Cafe in Brooklyn, N.Y., said summer business has been “amazing” compared to the previous year. Her theater has only one screen, which means she has just one chance at a time to pick a winner.

Last year, some of her choices included “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” as well as the DC Comics superhero film “The Flash,” which grossed just $271 million worldwide amid a controversy surrounding its star, Ezra Miller.

This year, she chose “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” “Despicable Me 4,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “A Quiet Place: Day One.” The variety of available films led to a winning combination, she said.

For the fall, she’s planning to add a second screen to expand her options — particularly for attracting family audiences.

“With ‘Wicked’ coming, with ‘Beetlejuice,’ with ‘Joker,’ I think we’re going to end the year strong,” she said.

After an eight-year effort, a major pirated movie and TV series streaming operation based in Vietnam has been shut down, according to a global antipiracy group.

Hanoi-based Fmovies and its associated sites drew nearly 374 million monthly visits, with more than 6.7 billion visits alone between January 2023 and this June. With hundreds of online domains, it was the largest pirate streaming operation in the world, according to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, an antipiracy group that worked in collaboration with the Hanoi police to shut down Fmovies.

“The Fmovies takedown is honestly a global turning point for us,” said Charlie Rivkin, chair of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment and chairman and chief executive of the Motion Picture Assn. trade group, which shares resources and expertise with the alliance. “It should send a signal to other piracy operators around the world that they’re going to face justice for violating copyright laws. We’re going to find them. We’re going to take them down.”

Representatives for Fmovies could not be reached for comment.

After launching in 2016, Fmovies was quickly met with legal action. Filipino media company ABS-CBN sued the site just months after its debut, alleging copyright infringement. A California court ordered the operation to pay $218,000 in damages and shut down, but it continued operating.

In August, the site was taken down by Vietnamese authorities.

Two Vietnamese men were identified as the operators of Fmovies, and a Vietnamese court has agreed to pursue the legal case against them. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment did not disclose the men’s names or other details of the operation.

“The Vietnamese movie industry is at a pivotal stage of development, transitioning from a state-subsidized production model to a rapidly growing phase driven by private-sector involvement,” Ngo Phuong Lan, chair of the Vietnam Film Development Assn., said in a statement. “Intellectual property rights protection is a crucial element for our industry’s success.”

Composed of major studios and media companies such as Paramount Global, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment has shut down several high-traffic piracy operations around the world in the last year.

In December, the group shut down more than 600 piracy sites in Latin America, including more than 320 in Peru. One month earlier, the coalition shut down an operation in Egypt with 65 domains that counted 29 million monthly visits.

Copyright theft remains a major headache for the entertainment industry. The unauthorized release of a movie before its theatrical debut can decrease box office revenue by as much as 20%.

And with box office sales not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, and studios shedding jobs due to massive overspending on streaming efforts, those revenue declines can be key, Rivkin said. Earlier this year, he estimated that, on average, piracy costs the movie theater business more than $1 billion per year.

“Piracy is an existential threat to our business,” Rivkin said. “It’s in everybody’s best interest to curb piracy; for the theaters, for the creatives, for our studios.”

A controversial bill that would require developers of advanced AI models to adopt safety measures is one step closer to becoming law.

The bill, SB 1047, would require developers of future advanced AI models to create guardrails to prevent the technology from being misused to conduct cyberattacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants.

Developers would need to submit their safety plans to the attorney general, who could hold them liable if AI models they directly control were to cause harm or imminent threat to public safety.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), passed the state Assembly on Wednesday, with 41 votes in favor and nine opposed. On Thursday, the measure was approved by the state Senate in a concurrence vote. It now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, though it’s unclear whether Newsom will sign or veto the bill.

“Innovation and safety can go hand in hand — and California is leading the way,” Wiener said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Newsom said the governor will evaluate the bill when it reaches his desk.

Wiener’s bill was fiercely debated in the Bay Area’s tech community. It received support from the Center for AI Safety, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, the L.A. Times editorial board and San Francisco-based AI startup Anthropic.

But it was opposed by Democratic congressional leaders as well as prominent AI players including Meta and OpenAI, who raised concerns about whether the legislation would stifle innovation in California.

Democratic congressional leaders, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San José), have also opposed the bill and urged Newsom to veto it. They argue the legislation could hurt California’s growing AI industry, home to ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and cite efforts Congress is making related to AI.

“There is a real risk that companies will decide to incorporate in other jurisdictions or simply not release models in California,” Khanna, Lofgren and six other Democratic congressional representatives wrote in a letter to Newsom.

“While we want California to lead in AI in a way that protects consumers, data, intellectual property and more, SB 1047 is more harmful than helpful in that pursuit,” Pelosi said in a statement.

Wiener and other legislators supporting the bill disagree, contending it would foster innovation while also protecting the public.

“You have to put guardrails,” Assemblymember Devon Mathis (R-Visalia) said before the Assembly’s vote on Wednesday afternoon. “We have to make sure they are going to be responsible players.”

Proponents of SB 1047 say it requires developers to be responsible for the safety of advanced AI models in their control, which could help prevent catastrophic AI events in the future.

“I worry that technology companies will not solve the significant risks associated with AI on their own because they’re locked in their race for market share and profit maximization,” Yoshua Bengio, a professor at Université de Montréal and the founder and scientific director of Mila — Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, said at a media briefing this week. “We simply can’t let them grade their own homework and hope for the best.”

Backers also say AI should be regulated similar to other industries that pose potential safety risks.

“This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill,” Musk wrote on X on Monday. “For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk to the public.”

Earlier this month, the bill passed a key state Senate committee after Wiener made significant changes, including removing a perjury penalty and changing the legal standard for developers regarding the safety of their advanced AI models.

San Francisco-based AI startup Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, said he believed the bill’s “benefits likely outweigh its costs” in an Aug. 21 letter to Newsom. The letter did not endorse the bill but shared the company’s viewpoint on the pros and cons.

“We want to be clear … that SB 1047 addresses real and serious concerns with catastrophic risk in AI systems,” Amodei wrote. “AI systems are advancing in capabilities extremely quickly, which offers both great promise for California’s economy and substantial risk.”

But some tech companies including OpenAI said they opposed the bill even after the changes.

“The broad and significant implications of AI for U.S. competitiveness and national security require that regulation of frontier models be shaped and implemented at the federal level,” OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon wrote in an Aug. 21 letter to Wiener. “A federally-driven set of AI policies, rather than a patchwork of state laws, will foster innovation and position the U.S. to lead the development of global standards.”

Wiener said he would welcome a strong federal AI safety law that preempts his bill.

“If past experience is any indication, enacting such a [federal] law will be an uphill fight,” Wiener said in a statement. “In the meantime, California should continue to lead on policies like SB 1047 that foster innovation while also protecting the public.”

SB 1047 is among roughly 50 AI-related bills in the Legislature that address various aspects of the technology’s impact on the public, including jobs, deepfakes and safety.