NEW YORK — Gone are the days of knowing a summer blockbuster when you see it. Sure, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” was always going to be big. But once upon a time, the same could be said for superhero origin stories and live-action Disney remakes of the studio’s animated classics — both of which have been vastly overshadowed this year by indie horror darlings “Obsession” and “Backrooms.”

The Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer” director, 54, adapted Homer’s epic poem for the big screen with a slew of A-listers led by Matt Damon’s Odysseus. They channel stoicism and ancient Greek ethos — in varying American accents — as the Trojan War hero battles a cyclops, sirens, the underworld and more to make his way back to his throne and family at Ithaca.

The swords and sandals saga earned $17.6 million in previews, and a conservative estimate predicts an impressive opening weekend gross of between $90 and $100 million.

Quite unlike Nolan, whose sprawling modern classics include “The Dark Knight,” “Inception” and “Interstellar,” the directors behind “Obsession” and “Backrooms” are both newcomers. Curry Barker (“Obsession”) and Kane Parsons (“Backrooms”) both honed their craft online, with the former spending under $1 million for what has become a historic horror success. Much of Parson’s “Backrooms” fanbase was established on YouTube, which made his $10 million big screen adaptation triumphant, if less startling.

Just seven of the year’s top 20 grossing films have opened since Memorial Day Weekend within the period widely regarded as peak blockbuster season.

Though “Obsession” has proven a summer box office MVP, it opened in mid-May, while “Backrooms” hit theaters days after Memorial Day.

Still, not all minimal budgets and their impacts are created equal — as explored at length across multiple episodes of media and film podcasts including “The Town,” “The Big Picture,” and “Ankler Agenda”. Nor are their higher-budget counterparts, such as superhero flicks and Disney’s live-action retreads of its own catalog, both of which spent much of this century eclipsing box office records. That is, until recently.

Even good will for the “Minions” franchise is running dry, with the latest installment “Minions & Monsters” also becoming its lowest grossing to date. However, with nearly $284 million earned globally, it is still the year’s 11th highest-grossing film worldwide.

Fatigue for both caped crusaders and House of Mouse cash grabs has long been brewing, particularly in the wake of lesser-known heroes taking center stage on streamers like Disney+.

“Disclosure Day,” the latest sci-fi adventure from Steven Spielberg — whose “Jaws” is widely credited as the first true summer blockbuster — is the 14th largest global earner of the year. That places it below Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” a polarizing period romance that opened in the dead of winter.

At the time of publication, both “Toy Story 5” and “Scary Movie” are the third-highest earners in their respective franchises, whereas “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” — the cinematic spinoff of the hit Disney+ show — is the 12th grosser in its franchise, though it might as well be last for all the promotion that preceded it.

“Obsession,” meanwhile, has grossed nearly $430 million worldwide and, this week, was crowned the 21st century’s top-earning original horror, per Collider. By the end of May, it was already Focus Features’ top domestic earner.

“In terms of the ratio between the worldwide box office and the production budget, ‘Obsession’ is going to be the biggest success of all time, which is extraordinary,” Bruce Nash, founder of industry tracker The Numbers, told French outlet AFP.

That stat would bypass the estimated $250 million earned by 1999’s “The Blair Witch Project” — which kicked off the found footage craze and was made for $600,000, according to Nash.

It’s unclear what lessons Hollywood might glean from the successes of “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” or the whether the business will keep continue to shove existing IP down audiences’ throats instead.

What is crystal clear is that the patterns of summers past are no longer predictable. Sure, some staples will endure, but no longer are aliens, superheroes or family animated features the guaranteed juggernauts they once were.

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