The Era of Marvel Is Ending And Anime Is Taking Its Place

Summer 2025 was full of surprises. Taylor Swift got engaged. France’s government collapsed again. People suddenly and collectively remembered Cracker Barrel. But in the entertainment world, the biggest surprises occurred at the box office. A Disney remake and a Jurassic World re-quel naturally drew the biggest audiences, but then an animated original film about demon-fighting K-pop singers took over Netflix. Also, no one cares about Marvel now? Let’s break down the summer’s biggest trends and what they mean for movies, nay, society. 

In: Nostalgia

You could argue that Jurassic World: Rebirth struck gold at the global office by cashing in on callbacks to the original Jurassic Park. The dinos in it may have been turd-headed mutant incels, but its story beats felt all too familiar. Meanwhile, Disney’s success with Freakier Friday and its live-action Lilo & Stitch proved that millennial nostalgia could run several world economies simultaneously. The live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon was also a big hit. Basically, people just want to forget their troubles for two hours and time travel to when they still had summer vacation. 

In: Horror 

Whereas nostalgia may feel like a warm blanket, horror feels like discovering that blanket is actually a Snuggie. The genre is thriving these days: It has practically swept the market in the past five years, spawning as much mediocre genre fare as all-time classics. It also produced Summer 2025’s biggest box office surprises. Weapons and The Conjuring: Last Rites were two of only three major moneymakers that premiered in August and September, whereas Final Destination: Bloodlines awakened a collective mistrust of vending machines as early as May. The action-horror-fantasy hybrid Sinners may have come out before summer started, but its box office dominance similarly proved that people want more original horror stories. Thankfully, we’ll probably be getting more of those now. 

Out: Marvel

Marvel was once the undisputed king of the box office, and superheroes were once a recommended part of our daily diet. (They were near the top of the food pyramid, next to candy.) Then 2025 came along and pooped all over the grave of Iron Man. Captain America: Brave New World failed to make a profit and Thunderbolts, despite being praised and hyped, performed even worse. In the end, Summer 2025 drove the final nail into Marvel’s coffin. Fantastic Four: Final Steps flamed out in spectacular fashion in its second week. The surprise there was that Pedro Pascal’s daddiness could not save it. 

It’s not impossible that Marvel gets it together before Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. For the sake of Baby Groot, let’s hope it does.

In: Anime

No one expected Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle to become the sixth-biggest September opening of all time, but here we are. The movie’s massive $70 million opening weekend proves that anime fans have finally braved the horrors of going outside and are officially an economic force in the United States. And while K-Pop Demon Hunters isn’t an anime, its takeover of both Netflix and the late August box office will likely convince producers to invest in more East Asian-inspired stories.

Out: Pixar

Amid all of the major successes of Summer 2025, Pixar experienced its greatest failure to date. With a paltry $20.8 million in its opening weekend (enough to buy several islands, but still), Elio became Pixar’s lowest-performing movie in history. But this time, audiences could not blame that on the movie’s inclusion of a queer character, as they did with Lightyear. In fact, MAGA-fearing Pixar producers erased any references to queerness in Elio, causing its original director to bow out. This necessitated a rewrite, thus obscuring the movie’s original themes and making it even harder to market the movie. Maybe Pixar will take a lesson from this and return to producing original ideas instead of pleasing certain political parties.

Out: Indie 

Summer 2025 was an uphill battle for indie movies. Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby managed just $2.3 million total, Ari Aster’s Eddington crawled to $10.1 million, and not even Jane Austen Wrecked My Life could attract Janeites, sailing in under $2.5 million. Even Wes Anderson, normally a dependable auteur draw, saw The Phoenician Scheme capped at $20 million. Simply put, smaller films still can’t defeat the allure of franchise fare and streaming alternatives. Indie films might start skipping theaters altogether. However, A24’s Materialists did manage a modest worldwide haul, suggesting that rom-coms may be swinging back into fashion again. 

So, if that means that the future of Hollywood holds more rom-coms, original horror stories, and original anime, as well as fewer compulsive superhero re-quels, then I’m on board with the future! I officially like the future now!