Labor Day marks the final day of the summer box office season, which is going out on a whimper as Warner Bros./New Line’s “Weapons” takes the No. 1 in its fourth weekend with $12.7 million over four days.
While it lost the No. 1 spot last weekend to a two-day limited engagement of Netflix’s “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” “Weapons” has continued its strong run with $134 million domestic and $235 million worldwide. On Friday, another New Line horror film, “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” will try to make history as the eighth consecutive Warner release to earn a $40 million-plus opening.
“Weapons” is the only film to earn more than $10 million over this extended weekend, as overall totals have fallen approximately 28% from last year to just $81.5 million. Aside from 2020 and 2022, the former being during the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the lowest Labor Day weekend total recorded in the past 30 years.
Farther down the charts, Universal’s 50th anniversary re-release of “Jaws” is taking the No. 2 spot with a $9.8 million 4-day total that tops two new releases: Sony’s “Caught Stealing” from Darren Aronofsky and Searchlight’s “The Roses” from Jay Roach.
“Caught Stealing,” which earned a $9.6 million domestic opening with $5.4 million overseas, will likely need post-theatrical revenue to turn a profit against its $40 million net production budget. The crime thriller starring Austin Butler has been generally well received with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 84% critics and 85% audience, but will have to spread its word-of-mouth against IP films like “Conjuring” and “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” in the weeks ahead.
“The Roses” has earned an $8 million 4-day opening, consistent with pre-release tracking and just behind the $8.3 million fourth weekend of Disney’s “Freakier Friday.” The black comedy starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman is a remake of the 1989 film “The War of the Roses” and has received mixed-to-positive reviews with a 65% RT score.
With the summer season closing today, Comscore has the final summer total at $3.67 billion, roughly flat with last year’s $3.63 billion total. While there were no deep slumps compared to May 2024, when strike delays led to the worst total for that month since the mid-1990s, only Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” remake grossed more than $400 million in North America, and there were no $600 million-plus grossers like past summer hits “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Barbie” or “Inside Out 2.”
