The 5 winners and losers of the first half of 2018 at the box office

What a difference a year makes. This time last summer we were trying to manage through one of the worst movie seasons ever, with disasters like "The Mummy" and "Transformers: The Last Knight." Now, it's as though everything Hollywood puts out is a box-office hit.

The movie business is having a very good year.

With early year successes like "Black Panther" and "A Quiet Place" matched with the huge performances by "Avengers: Infinity War," "Deadpool 2," and "Incredibles 2," the 2018 box office is up a healthy 8% from last year, and the summer movie season is up more than 15% compared to last year.

Exhibitor Relations senior box office analyst Jeff Bock said it's quite simple: This year, the sequels are actually good.

"Cinephiles may not want to hear this, but sequels, spinoffs, and superheroes have been the guiding forces at the box office in 2018," Bock told Business Insider. "The difference between this year and last, Hollywood is offering up more sequels that audiences actually wanted to see."

To look back at how we got here, we've listed the 5 winners and losers at the box office so far in 2018: