Labor Day weekend is never a big holiday for moviegoing, as most moviegoers mark the end of summer with other activities, and this year is no exception. Deadpool & Wolverine is the biggest headline of the four-day weekend as it stays No. 1 in its sixth outing and crosses $600 million domestically, becoming only the 16th film in history to do so, not adjusted for inflation.
The only newcomer landing in the upper reaches of the chart is the indie biopic Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid and based on Paul Kengor’s book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. The film is in a close race with holdover Twisters, now in its seventh weekend, with both films looking to earn $8 million to $9 million for the four-day holiday weekend.
Receiving blistering reviews — its critics score is 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — Reagan fared better with audiences, who gave the biopic an A CinemaScore. Box office analysts knew the film would play older, but hoped the attention surrounding the 2024 presidential election would broaden the audience, with no such luck. Roughly 85 percent of ticket buyers are over the age of 35 — including an unheard of 66 percent over the age of 55, setting Reagan up for a promising run on premium VOD, a preferred platform for older consumers.
Distributed by SBD, Reagan is faring best in the middle of the country, with white moviegoers making up nearly 80 percent of the audience.
Younger moviegoers may be the target audience for Blumhouse and Sony’s new AI-themed horror film Afraid, but they are largely staying away from that film as well. The pic is looking at a ninth-place finish with a four-day holiday gross of $4 million.
Back at the the top of the chart, Marvel Studios and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine keeps playing and playing, and is expected to earn as much as $20 million for the four-day weekend, putting its domestic tally at roughly $605 million through Sunday, the sixth-best showing ever for a superhero movie.
Now in its third weekend, 20th Century and Disney’s Alien: Romulus is holding at No. 2 with a projected four-day gross of $10 million to $11 million.
The performance of the two films, along with Pixar and Disney’s Inside Out 2, played a key role in reversing a dramatic downturn at the early summer box office. Domestic box office revenue is expected to come in at $3.6 billion, a 10 percent dip from summer 2023 (many had worried the deficit would be far worse).
Sony had the biggest female-fueled hit of the summer with Wayfarer Studio’s film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us, a novel about love, domestic violence and redemption. A social media storm over a reported rift between director-star Justin Baldoni and star-producer Blake Lively — much of the criticism has been aimed at the actress — hasn’t hurt the film, which is coming in No. 3 over Labor Day with an estimated $9.5 million for the four days and putting its domestic total at $135.8 million through Sunday. Sony has gone out of its way to praise Lively and the other women behind the film, without any mention of Baldoni.
Amblin Entertainment’s Twisters has been another summer savior and should finish the holiday weekend with nearly $260 million in domestic ticket sales. Universal is handing the film in North America, while Warner Bros. has overseas duties.
Sept. 1, 8 a.m.: Updated with revised numbers.
This story was originally published August 31 at 10:35 am.
