After six weeks, the reign of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” atop the box office charts has come to an end as Warner Bros./Alcon’s “Practical Magic 2” takes No. 1 on the first post-summer weekend.
But the legacyquel starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock has work to do to ease Warner Bros.’ box office woes for 2026. The film earned a $13 million opening day from 4,146 locations, setting the $75 million-budgeted film for a lackluster $28 million to $30 million domestic opening weekend.
That opening headlines a sluggish weekend where no other films are estimated to gross $10 million, bringing overall totals for the post-Labor Day frame to an industry estimated $84 million, down 10% year-over-year. Theaters will be looking for upcoming titles, hopefully combined with good legs for “Practical Magic 2,” to pick up business for the fall marketplace.
As with the first “Practical Magic” released in 1998, critics aren’t impressed by this follow-up, turning in a 37% Rotten Tomatoes score. But the fans who make up the film’s cult fanbase, who are primarily millennial women, have enjoyed the sequel, giving it an early 93% RT audience score and a B+ on CinemaScore, a grade that is an improvement on the B- of its predecessor. PostTrak scores came in at 4.5/5.
The task now for “Practical Magic 2” will be to grow interest beyond that fanbase and become a popular option for female moviegoers amid a September landscape that will include movies like Sony’s male-skewing “Resident Evil” and DreamWorks’ female-focused but family-leaning animated film “Forgotten Island.”
Breaking down the CinemaScore polls, opening night demos show that “Practical Magic 2,” as expected, got a Friday night crowd that was 75% female. But the highest grades came from the 35-49 demo with an A- while moviegoers under 35 gave the film a B. With 56% of the opening night crowd over the age of 35, “Practical Magic 2” will need to expand its audience to the Gen Z demo that is needed for successful legacyquels.
In second is “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” with $8.7 million in its seventh weekend, putting it on course to pass “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” as the all-time domestic box office record holder before inflation on Monday with a running domestic cume of $935 million.
Universal’s “The Odyssey” is in third with $8.1 million in its ninth weekend, which is not only enough to push it past $600 million in domestic grosses but also now makes it Universal’s unadjusted highest grossing film of all time, passing the $1.67 billion global gross of “Jurassic World” in 2015.
Ketchup’s “Coyote vs. Acme” is in fourth in its third weekend, continuing to hold strong with $6.3 million as its domestic total to reach $47.8 million. Completing the top 5 is the Angel action film “Runner” starring Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson, which is opening to $6 million from 2,528 locations.
With a $2.5 million opening day, “Runner” was the No. 2 movie on Friday behind “Practical Magic 2.” Starring Ritchson as a former soldier hunted by black market criminals as he delivers a liver for a young girl’s life-saving transplant, the film has been well received with a 71% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A- on CinemaScore.
Outside the top 5 is Neon’s “Hope,” a Korean sci-fi thriller from director Na Hong-jin that is estimated to earn $3.3 million from 1,560 locations. Also starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander as two of the alien creatures who attack a small village near the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the film has a critics and audience Rotten Tomatoes score of 79%.
