As summer came to an unofficial close with Labor Day weekend, the domestic box office largely continued to play the hits. September opens with Deadpool & Wolverine still at the top in week six, followed by the horror hit Alien: Romulus. The holiday is rarely one of the more profitable days for theaters, but this year did see one notable overperformer in the Dennis Quaid-led Reagan. Made on a $25 million budget, Sean McNamara‘s adaptation of Paul Kengor’s novel The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism debuted in third place with $10 million, just barely beating out Blake Lively‘s romantic drama It Ends With Us. Brutal critical reviews haven’t quelled audience love for the biopic as its 20% Tomatometer score has been outweighed by a stellar 98% Verified Hot Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
Despite its hard charge, Reagan still couldn’t hold a candle to Deadpool & Wolverine, which brought in another $19.4 million domestically, becoming only the sixteenth film in history, not accounting for inflation, to cross the $600 million milestone at home. The Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman-led smash is now over $1.26 million worldwide and still climbing, officially making it the seventh highest-grossing comic book movie and placing it within striking distance of Black Panther at $1.35 billion. Wade Wilson’s long-awaited return has been filled with box office records as it became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, and it’s the domestic side of things where the accolades have been especially impressive, as it has only once fallen out of the top spot thanks to Alien: Romulus‘ debut. Even as its secrets are divulged, like the post-credits scene with Channing Tatum‘s Gambit, audiences are still going out in droves for the multiversal adventure.
Speaking of Fede Álvarez‘s gory sci-fi horror hit, it pulled in another $11.5 million over the weekend to reach $90.9 million domestically and $285.6 million worldwide. Audience drop-off still isn’t slowing down the film, something especially apparent at the IMAX box office where it again padded its numbers to reach $37.2 million and become the highest-grossing horror flick ever on the premium format. Strong word of mouth continues to carry the back-to-basics Xenomorph hit with a killer group of young actors including Caely Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, and Isabela Merced leading the charge.
‘It Ends With Us’ and ‘Twisters’ Continue to Soar While ‘AfrAId’ Malfunctions
Although Reagan is currently in third place domestically, all of third through fifth place are currently in a dead heat, with It Ends With Us currently #4 with $9.56 million and Twisters — which is in its 7th week — virtually tied at #5 with another $9.5 million. The final tally may ultimately see these titles shuffle around, though it’s hard to bet against Justin Baldoni‘s romantic drama given its massive run thus far. Despite the controversy surrounding the film and the attention on a rumored feud between Baldoni and Lively, it hasn’t suffered one bit as it’s up to $135.8 million domestically and $283 million globally, marking the actress’s biggest hit by far. Twisters, meanwhile, is now up to $361.6 million worldwide thanks to continued support for the Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell-led natural disaster flick.
Further down the list, Zoe Kravitz‘s directorial debut Blink Twice continues to succeed with another $6.1 million, bringing its total to $30.7 million and falling just shy of the religious feature The Forge at $6.3 million. The other big debut of the week, the John Cho-led Blumhouse flick AfrAId, couldn’t match fellow newcomer Reagan‘s totals, instead falling behind Despicable Me 4and only barely beating the Coraline re-release with $4.4 million and a $6.8 million global debut. Poor reviews from critics and audiences combined with a lack of buzz left little room for the artificial intelligence flick to succeed at a brutal time to break into the box office, continuing horror’s overall struggles financially this year.
What’s Coming to Theaters This Weekend?
There’s only one name on everyone’s mind for this week’s theatrical releases, and it’s not Deadpool, Wolverine, or even Ronald Reagan. It’s Tim Burton‘s Ghost with the Most, who is finally ready to return for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Michael Keaton steps back in as the grubby bio-exorcist for a new adventure that brings the Deetz family back to Winter River, including Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder, alongside Jenna Ortega, one of many big newcomers to the horror comedy. Early reviews out of the Venice International Film Festival have been positive overall with a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the hype of the ghoul’s return alone should be enough to power the film to the top of the box office.
Stay tuned here at Collider for future box office updates.
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