Somebody must have said his name three times this weekend because Michael Keaton‘s Ghost with the Most is back with a vengeance at the box office with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. After weeks mostly dominated by holdovers from the summer like Deadpool & Wolverine and Alien: Romulus, the long-awaited Tim Burton sequel broke through with an eye-popping $110 million domestic debut, making it the third-largest such premiere of the year behind only the aforementioned Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman team-up and Inside Out 2. With rave reviews and nostalgia at its back, the film overperformed expectations for a record-setting return, marking the second-best debut at home for the director after only his Alice in Wonderland adaptation at $116 million.
Globally, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice added an extra $35 million overseas for a $145 million total to start its run. It’s another big win for Warner Bros., giving them their fourth #1 hit at the box office this year and setting a record for PG-13 films in September. Years of waiting for the iconic title character’s return has certainly paid off for everyone involved, and it’s not likely to slow down either. A Certified Fresh 76% score from critics and a strong 82% score from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes contribute to strong word-of-mouth and the cast alone is reason to see what the buzz is about. Though Keaton may once again steal the show, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara also make the return trip to Winter River for some afterlife chaos with newcomers Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Burn Gorman, and more, adding extra firepower to the adventure.
In its seventh weekend, Deadpool & Wolverine was once again dethroned with only another $7.2 million domestically. Even outside the top spot, however, Shawn Levy‘s superhero smash continues to pass milestones as its $1.29 billion global haul now ranks as the 22nd highest-grossing movie of all time. With Frozen among the films recently surpassed, it now sets its sights on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom‘s $1.308 billion lifetime earnings mark. Romulus, meanwhile, added another $3.91 million to come in fourth place while also featuring an estimated $13.7 million international score to help the film to a $314.4 million lifetime haul. This now makes it the second highest-grossing Alien film ever, behind only 2012’s Prometheus.
‘Reagan’ Continues to Defy the Odds While ‘It Ends With Us’ Keeps Rolling
Just ahead of Fede Álvarez‘s Xenomorph flick in third place, Reagan continued to overcome some grisly critical reviews to add another $5.2 million domestically. The film has found a passionate audience eager to watch Sean McNamara‘s telling of the titular president’s life unfold on the big screen, as indicated by a 98% audience score that doesn’t seem to be budging. With $18.5 million total at home, the Dennis Quaid-led biopic is close to crossing a major milestone already and seems poised to continue earning well after scoring the best hold of any film in the top ten.
Rounding out the top five is the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni-led It Ends With Us with another $3.75 million and has now officially overtaken The Fault in Our Stars with $309 million globally. It’s been a great run for the power couple of Lively and Reynolds who, through their career-best box office hits, have scored a combined total of $1.5 billion worldwide. Only one other new film cracked the top ten — A24’s The Front Room starring Brandy Norwood — and it didn’t exactly set the box office on fire with only $1.7 million domestically. The debut feature of brothers Sam and Max Eggers continues a trend of horror features failing to grab much attention from audiences and mixed reviews haven’t helped. Although Collider’s Jeff Ewing gave it a 7/10 in his review, critics and viewers were less impressed overall with a 50% and 34% Rotten Tomatoes score respectively.
What’s New in Theaters This Weekend?
While there’s been a lack of new releases in recent weeks, that’s all about to change this weekend. Chief among the new arrivals is Transformers One, which will explore the origins of the iconic Cybertronians Optimus Prime and Megatron before they became mortal enemies. Chris Hemsworth and Bryan Tyree Henry star in the film, which was highly lauded as arguably the franchise’s best theatrical outing in early reactions. However, it will also be joined by one of horror’s most-anticipated titles in Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil remake starring James McAvoy and the Dave Bautista actioner, Killer’s Game. Overall, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will have a bit of competition for the box office crown coming soon.
Stay tuned here at Collider for future box office updates and grab your tickets for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice below.
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