This was a very busy weekend for theaters, with two newcomers pulling some pretty good numbers.

You'd think Freakier Friday would easily dominate the weekend thanks to nostalgia and the original film's popularity. But despite a very solid opening, the actual king of the weekend was WB/New Line's Weapons, which pulled a crazy debut for an original title and further cements Zach Cregger as a box office draw. Meanwhile, The Fantastic Four: First Steps was hit by another steep drop this weekend.

The Top 10 earned a combined $126.2 million this weekend. That's down 18.5% from last year, when both Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends with Us earned over $50 million, while Borderlands massively flopped.

At the top spot, WB/New Line's Weapons debuted with a fantastic $43.5 million in 3,202 theaters. Funny enough, the final number was $43,501,217. In one single weekend, it already surpassed the domestic lifetime of director Zach Cregger's previous film, Barbarian ($40.8 million).

Another impressive fact: second original horror film of the year to hit $40 million on its opening weekend, just after Sinners ($48 million). WB also achieved an incredible feat: this is the studio's seventh #1 opening this year and it's also the sixth in a row to debut with over $40 million. This is something no studio has ever accomplished.

How could it open this high? Especially when Barbarian didn't get this high? In spite of that film's performance, the film quickly earned a cult following in streaming and home media, which raised Zach Cregger's profile in horror circles. So everyone is obviously curious to know what he can do next. But most importantly, he followed up the film with an interesting premise: 17 kids from the same classroom vanished from their homes at 2:17am and never came back.

Credit must go to WB for an incredible marketing campaign. They properly laid out the mystery and horror aspect, without spoiling much about the film. The film's cryptic posters and videos also helped raise curiosity. And the film's iconic kid run has been mimicked online, raising further awareness. Another advantage was the lack of horror competition: I Know What You Did Last Summer fell quickly and Together was very niche, which allowed Weapons to reach out horror fans. And finally, the reviews: it's sitting at a fantastic 95% on RT and 81 on Metacritic. It's simply a perfect combination where everything simply clicked.

According to Warner Bros., 58% of the audience was male, and 69% was in the 18-34 demographic. Reportedly, 27% of the audience watched the film because Cregger was the director, which is something very encouraging. His name was plasted all over the marketing, even more than the actors. The debut suggests he has become a box office draw in horror circles. Not easy to accomplish that. But the good news don't stop there. Horror is usually front-loaded, but Weapons dropped just 23% on Saturday and 19% on Sunday, better than usual for horror. And judging by its reception, it's easy to see why.

Audiences gave Weapons a great "A–" on CinemaScore, which is insanely hard for a horror film to achieve. What does this mean? That the film will enjoy fantastic word of mouth and have better legs than usual for horror. Thanks to a very empty August, it should easily hit $130 million domestically, and that's just a conservative prediction. Don't be surprised if it winds up higher. Whatever the case, Weapons is set for a very healthy run. Cregger already has set his next film (a Resident Evil reboot for next September), and it looks like his future is shining bright.

In second place, Disney's Freakier Friday debuted with $28.5 million in 3,975 theaters. That's above the original's $22.2 million debut, although in terms of attendance, it was below the original. Still, considering the hit-and-miss state of comedies in theaters, we'll take this as a win.

There aren't much high expectations; the budget was just $42 million, which means it will be easily profitable. But it still feels like the film could've done a bit better than this. After all, the original is one of Lohan's and Curtis' most popular films, growing audiences over the past 22 years. Disney pretty much sold the film as another wacky comedy adventure; on one hand, it kept the same spirit and tone as the original, but on the other, it couldn't overcome the "been there, done that" feeling of other legacy sequels (even if the film involved more body swapping).

There's also the belief that those curious will probably wait for streaming. After all, it's why comedies have been struggling to break out in theaters. Even with positive reviews (73% on RT), this is just solely for the fans. In some concerning news, the film was a bit front-loaded; it dropped 29% on Saturday, when a 20% drop is the normal drop. Looks like audiences prioritized watching something called Freakier Friday on Friday.

According to Disney, a massive 71% of the audience was female, and 66% was 35 and under. They gave it a strong "A" on CinemaScore, which is actually above the original. August is quite empty, so there's room for some good legs. For now, the film should hit around $90 million, but it remains a question mark if it will pass the original's $110 million domestic total.

After its disappointing second weekend performance, The Fantastic Four: First Steps had another bad weekend. It fell to third place, plummeting a steep 59% and grossing $15.7 million this weekend. These drops are eerily similar to Quantumania (69.9% second weekend, 59.9% second weekend), indicating the public is losing interest at a rapid pace. It lost IMAX screens to Weapons, but that's not an excuse; Superman fell 57.5% on its third weekend when F4 opened, but that was a $117 million opener from the same genre, not a R-rated original horror film. So how could F4 still collapse 59%?

Through 17 days, the film has earned $230.6 million domestically. Its opening weekend was $8 million behind Superman, and now it's running $58.7 million behind. If the film doesn't stabilize soon, it could finish below the 2005 film's adjusted total ($272 million), which would be a huge disappointment.

In fourth place, DreamWorks' The Bad Guys added $10.5 million this weekend. That's a very rough 52% drop, which is very bad for an animated film; those films are known for having great legs. For contrast, the original dropped just 32.2% on its second weekend. Hell, the drop is also steeper than Pixar's Elio (50%) this year. This is very disappointing considering the film is not facing any animated competition.

Now, there's still some good news. Through 10 days, the film has made $43.6 million, which is actually just $1 million behind the original through the same point. Even though the weekend drop is bad, it still posted very strong weekdays, which are actually better than the original. The hope is that it can continue legging out through the empty August.

In fifth place, Paramount's The Naked Gun fell a rough 51% on its second weekend, earning $8.3 million. But in a similar case to The Bad Guys 2; bad weekend drop, but strong weekdays. Through 10 days, the film has earned $32.9 million domestically, becoming Liam Neeson's biggest film as leading star since The Commuter ($36.3 million). The film should finish with around $50 million domestically.

Superman dropped 42%, grossing $7.9 million. The film has amassed $331.3 million, and it should finish wih around $355 million domestically.

In seventh place, Jurassic World Rebirth dropped 45%, adding $4.8 million this weekend. The film's domestic total stands at $326.9 million, and it looks to finish with around $340 million domestically.

The best drop in the Top 10 belonged to F1. It eased just 30% for a $2.9 million weekend. The film has earned $178.6 million, and with a confirmed IMAX re-release this Friday, it will continue holding very well through August.

Neon's Together had a pretty great debut last week, but it was hit hard by the arrival of Weapons. The film collapsed 63%, adding $2.5 million this weekend. That takes its 12-day total to $17.1 million, and it looks to finish with a little below $25 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 was Angel Studios' Sketch, which flopped with $2.4 million in 2,157 theaters ($4.9 million five-day). The film showed promise on Wednesday, debuting with $1.9 million, but it collapsed by 73% the following day. Even with an "A–" on CinemaScore, it looks like the film will be quite front-loaded.

OVERSEAS

Weapons opened with a pretty great $28.3 million overseas, for a fantastic $71.8 million worldwide debut. That's one of the greatest debuts for an original horror film, and like the domestic number, it already surpassed the lifetime gross of Barbarian ($45 million). The best debuts were in the UK ($3.6M), Mexico ($2.7M), France ($2M), Australia ($1.8M) and Spain ($1.6M). It remains to be seen how it holds up in these markets, but right now, the film is set to earn over $200 million worldwide by the end of its run. And like the domestic market, that's a conservative prediction.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is also collapsing overseas. This weekend, it earned $17.5 million, which represents another steep 56% drop, and taking its worldwide total to $435.3 million. The best markets are the UK ($25.5M), Mexico ($24.2M), France ($12.5M), Brazil ($11.6M) and Australia ($9.7M). The film is not showing signs of stability, which is very alarming considering the film's high costs (the budget is reported at "more than $200 million" and over $100 million in marketing). If it doesn't start holding well, there's a strong possibility it could miss $500 million worldwide. Missing $550 million is already very disappointing, but missing $500 million is flop territory.

In Japan, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle continues making history. The film's total in the country is now ¥20.31 billion ($137.9 million) after 22 days. It has registered a staggering 14.7 million ticket sales and has become the 12th most-watched film of all time in Japan. It's not showing signs of slowing down in the slightest. The film is also registering insane pre-sales in other East Asian markets, indicating it's going to try to take down Mugen Train ($507 million).

Jurassic World Rebirth earned $16.1 million this weekend, allowing it cross $800 million worldwide. A big portion of this was from its final market, Japan, where the film debuted with $7.5 million, despite heavy competition from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle. The best markets are China ($78.1M), the UK ($45.3M), Mexico ($35.3M), Germany ($30.5M) and France ($26.6M). Without any other market left, it should finish with around $875 million.

Freakier Friday debuted with $15.2 million overseas, for a $43.8 million worldwide debut. The best debuts were in Mexico ($2.8M), UK ($2.4M), Australia ($1.4M), Argentina ($800K) and Colombia ($800K). Pretty good debuts in Latin America, but quite soft in other markets. Nevertheless, it's not a bad place to start, given overseas accounted for just 31% of the original's gross.

F1 continues impressing outside America. It added $11.7 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to a fantastic $571 million. The best markets are China ($57M), the UK ($28.9M), Korea ($28.2M), France ($27.9M) and Mexico ($19.6M). With IMAX on the horizon, it's gonna crack the $600 million milestone very soon.

The Bad Guys 2 added $9.3 million overseas, for a $84.3 million worldwide total. The best markets are the UK ($9.9M), France ($4.7M), Mexico ($3.6M), Spain ($3.5M) and South Korea ($2M). It still has a lot of markets left.

The Naked Gun added $6.2 million overseas, for a $56.3 million worldwide run. The best markets are the UK ($5.9M), Germany ($4M), Netherlands ($1.3M), Mexico ($1.2M) and Austria ($728K). Like The Bad Guys 2, it still has some big markets left to open.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

Movie Release Date Studio Domestic Opening Domestic Total Worldwide Total Budget Thunderbolts May/2 Disney $74,300,608 $190,274,328 $382,436,365 $180M 28 Years Later Jun/20 Sony $30,002,966 $70,446,897 $150,149,648 $60M

Marvel's Thunderbolts has closed with a very weak $190 million domestically and $382 million worldwide, failing to break even. Despite positive reviews and solid word of mouth, the public simply wasn't interested in finding what that asterisk meant in the film. Especially when the MCU was coming off the absolute mess that was Brave New World. Even with the good word of mouth and promoting the New Avengers title after the opening weekend, the film had very average legs. Building good will is important, but when people aren't watching it, what's there left? How will Marvel move with these characters in the future? We know they will be in Doomsday, but how plot relevant will they be? Only time will tell.

Sony's 28 Years Later has closed with $70 million domestically and $150 million worldwide. That's pretty much 2.5x its budget, so it pretty much broke even. The high trailer views suggested there would be a gigantic film on its way, but the film proved to be more niche and front-loaded than expected. But the film still ended on an okay note, money-wise. Word of mouth was polarizing (particularly for its ending), but the film will probably enjoy a good afterlife in home media and streaming. There's already The Bone Temple set for January, now it's up in the air to see if Sony will greenlight the third and final installment.

THIS WEEKEND

Two newcomers, but with Weapons heading for a crazy run, none are a threat in taking the top spot.

Universal is releasing Nobody 2, just 4 years after the original premiered. It was a victim of COVID release, but it still made a solid $57 million worldwide, and its popularity grew in streaming and home media. You get pretty much what you'd expect: Bob Odenkirk kicking ass. Without any R-rated action film on the horizon, it could attract those fans and help it leg out through the empty August.

Lionsgate is also releasing crime thriller Americana, which stars Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, and Simon Rex. The film premiered at SXSW and earned very positive reviews… but there's two things. First, it has a 100% on RT… but it's just 7 reviews. Second, it premiered at SXSW… back in 2023. It sat on the shelf until Lionsgate bought it in March 2024, and it's now barely getting released. With a limited campaign and low buzz, it'd be a surprise if it broke out.

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