Warner Bros. has capped off an impeccable summer with New Line’s “Weapons,” the sophomore horror film from director Zach Cregger that has earned an impressive $42.5 million opening from 3,205 theaters.
That is more than quadruple the $10.5 million opening that Cregger’s debut feature, “Barbarian,” earned in its opening weekend in fall 2022. And it also comes with far better audience reception. While moviegoers were divided by “Barbarian” as it earned a C+ on CinemaScore, “Weapons” earned an excellent A-.
For context, that is only the 14th time since 1981 that a horror film earned an A- or better on the audience poll…and the second time Warner Bros. has achieved that feat this year with the straight A given to Ryan Coogler’s acclaimed “Sinners” back in April.
It’s been a remarkable four months for Warner. Since the near-$1 billion theatrical run of “A Minecraft Movie” and the wild success of the original horror film “Sinners” in April, the studio has found more box office success with “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” “Superman,” and as a distributor on Apple’s “F1.” That box office success helped parent company Warner Bros. Discovery turn a profit this past quarter.
The studio will look to keep the momentum going in September with the final film in the “Conjuring” series, “Last Rites,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s original thriller “One Battle After Another.”
In a respectable second is Disney’s “Freakier Friday,” which is continuing the resurgence of the often dormant theatrical comedy that began last weekend with Paramount’s “The Naked Gun.” The legacyquel to the 2003 Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsay Lohan film earned an opening weekend of $29 million domestic and $45 million worldwide, passing “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” for the best opening for a G or PG-rated film in August.
As expected, the film heavily skewed female at 74%, and millennials were a major driver with 32% from the 25-34 demo and 16% from 35-44. But there was still substantial turnout from audiences too young to have seen “Freaky Friday” in theaters with 36% under the age of 25. Disney will look to keep these legs going through the end of the summer.
On the negative side for Disney, Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is continuing its rapid decline after a shocking second weekend drop, falling another 62% in its third weekend to $15.5 million. With a total of $230 million domestic and $434 million worldwide, the film has now passed the $415 million global run of “Captain America: Brave New World” but will have to really stretch its shortened legs just to get to $500 million worldwide.
Last weekend’s releases complete the top 5, with Universal/DreamWorks’ “The Bad Guys 2” in fourth with a $10.2 million second weekend, dropping 53% from its $22 million opening and reaching a $43.4 million 10-day domestic total that is just a step behind the $44.5 million pace of the first “Bad Guys” with $84 million grossed worldwide.
“The Naked Gun” completes the top 5 with $8.3 million in its second weekend, bringing the film’s total to $33 million domestic and $56.4 million worldwide. Farther down the charts, Universal’s “Jurassic World Dominion” will cross the $800 million mark worldwide after grossing $4.7 million in its sixth weekend.
Finally, Angel Studios released the family-friendly horror comedy “Sketch” in theaters on Wednesday, earning a 5-day opening of $5 million from 2,157 locations. In a departure from its fan-driven “Angel Guild” greenlight system, “Sketch” is an acquisition for the Utah-based studio, having picked it up this past April after its premiere at TIFF last year. The film has been well-received, earning an A- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 96% critics and 84% audience.
