For sure. Context is very important when it comes to box office - and unfortunately, it gets lost as soon as we're comparing numbers and records to each other.
The biggest thing you can point to, I feel, is big releases to compete with. For example, Suicide Squad, Venom and Captain Marvel had an open field in which to run - just weeks of soft competition. Aquaman, Black Panther, same thing. If you can stretch your success over 4 or 5 weeks where there's not much else to steal your thunder, you're going to be raking it in.
On the other hand, big-budget competition can cannibalize box office numbers. The summer of 2016 had a new #1 nearly every week, and so many movies in that span - Star Trek: Beyond and Jason Bourne, for example - ended up as box office disappointments because they weren't able to hold a lead for very long. Spider-Man: Homecoming was immediately followed by War for the Planet of the Apes, for example, so neither really had much time in the spotlight. China bailed out Homecoming, in the end.
I think those are the top 3 things - 1) soft competitive schedule, 2) positive word of mouth, and 3) China. If you can get 2 of the 3, you're likely to make a lot of money.
