Weekend Box Office: Weapons slaughters Freakier Friday; Fantastic Four plunges another 60%
Earlier this week, I posted my box office predictions—and I nailed my call on Freakier Friday. While some pundits expected it to be one of the breakout hits of the summer, I predicted it would earn about $30 million. Sure enough, it came in at $29 million this weekend. That’s probably a disappointment for Disney, but still a respectable number all things considered.
Where I missed the mark was with Zack Cregger’s Weapons. Word of mouth propelled the film to a first-place finish with a terrific $42.5 million—an outstanding number for an R-rated studio horror release. Unusually for the genre, Weaponsdoesn’t appear to be front-loaded; it scored an A– CinemaScore, putting it on par with Sinners and Get Out. Most breakout horror films land in the B range, so this is rare territory. If this momentum holds, Weapons could dominate the box office for the rest of the summer—and it deserves to, as the film is jaw-droppingly good (read our review here).
Meanwhile, Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps continues to free-fall, dropping another 60% this weekend for $15.5 million, bringing its total to $230 million. It’s now far behind where Superman was at the same point in its run, suggesting that while Marvel die-hards are still showing up, the general audience is losing interest. This marks the third Marvel film this year that could end up losing money at the box office.
The Bad Guys 2 also took a steeper-than-expected hit, falling 53% to $10.4 million in its second weekend for a $43.4 million total. That’s surprising given the lack of family options in theaters—perhaps parents opted for Freakier Friday instead. Unless it holds well, it will likely fall short of the $97 million the original earned. The Naked Gun slipped 50% to $8.3 million, bringing its total to $33 million. It should turn a theatrical profit and likely find a bigger audience once it hits streaming.
James Gunn’s Superman is still holding strong, adding $7.8 million for a $331 million domestic total. Jurassic World: Rebirth, despite being available on VOD, continues to perform impressively, adding $4.7 million for a $326 million total. Its legs have been remarkable since opening six weeks ago. F1 made another $2.8 million for a $178 million domestic haul, and with IMAX screens returning next week (the format it was made for), it still has a shot at cracking $200 million domestically.
On the other hand, Neon’s Together collapsed 62% in its second weekend, earning $2.6 million for a $17 million total—likely losing much of its audience to Weapons. Angel Studios also stumbled outside the faith-based lane with its non-religious family film Sketch. Despite strong reviews, it grossed just $2.5 million for a $5 million total, with a weak $1,172 per-screen average.
Next weekend brings the release of Nobody 2. Will it have enough muscle to overtake Freakier Friday for the runner-up spot? We’ll find out soon.
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