{"id":169567,"date":"2025-08-23T16:30:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T16:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/169567\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T16:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T16:30:16","slug":"weapons-at-15m-before-kpop-demon-hunters-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/169567\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Weapons’ at $15M+ Before ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ Opens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSATURDAY AM:<\/strong> Refresh for more analysis <\/strong>Warner Bros third weekend of Zach Cregger\u2019s Weapons<\/a><\/strong> is coming on stronger than anticipated with $4.67M yesterday on its way to a $15M+<\/strong> weekend. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe swing factor here is Netflix<\/a>\/Sony Pictures Animation\u2019s Kpop Demon Hunters<\/a> Singalong <\/strong>which isn\u2019t on any box office charts this AM; not so much because Netflix isn\u2019t reporting and burying their figures in ComScore, but any kind of indication of how the movie is actually doing won\u2019t be apparent until tonight into tomorrow AM. Again, lowball estimates have the second-most watched Netflix title at around $15M+<\/strong> as well at 1,700 sites. Currently, the overall weekend for all titles is weighing in at $64M, but if Kpop does what it\u2019s suppose to do, then the whole marketplace shoots up to $79M+, which wouldn\u2019t be the lowest grossing frame of the year. Currently that belongs to March 14-16 when Novocaine numbed audiences, with all titles doing $52.1M. A year ago, the entire weekend posted $88.8M led by the fifth weekend of Deadpool & Wolverine ($18.3M). Kpop Demon Hunters is only playing today and Sunday at most circuits minus AMC, which is holding the line on theatrical windows. <\/p>\n

\n\tRunning cume for Weapons by Sunday looks like $115.2M. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Margaret<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMargaret Qualley in \u2018Honey, Don\u2019t!\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features\/Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tWith more kids heading back to college (65% were on break Friday, which will fall to 25% on Monday), the arthouse box office has been flooded with edgy and some auteurish films including Focus Features Honey Don\u2019t! <\/strong>($3.2M<\/strong> opening), Bleecker Street\u2019s David Mckenzie directed Relay <\/strong>($2M<\/strong> estimated), A24\u2019s Nhe Zha II<\/strong> ($1.4M<\/strong>), Vertical\/AGC Studios\u2019 Eden<\/strong> from Ron Howard ($1.36M<\/strong>) and NEON\u2019s Splitsville<\/strong> from Michael Angelo Covino (estimated $90K<\/strong> at 5 locations in what is the weekend\u2019s best theater average at $18K). It\u2019s almost like an advertisement for the specialty sector itself. This is part for the course as August tees up potential awards season titles, and begins to set the table for the fall, letting upscale and sophisticated moviegoers know that more serious fare is on the marquee. Still, nothing is breaking out here with soft ticket sales all around except for Splitsville. <\/p>\n

\n\tTop 10:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Weapons (NL) 3,631 (+181) theaters, Fri $4.67M (-38%), 3-day $15M (-39%) Total $115.2M\/Wk 3<\/li>\n
  2. Freakier Friday (Dis) 3,675 (-300) theaters, Fri $2.8M (-38%), 3-day $9M (-37%), Total $70.3M\/Wk 3<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \n\t3. Fantastic Four: First Steps (Dis) 3,190 (-165) theaters Fri $1.6M (-35%) 3-day $5.8M (-36%), Total $257.1M\/Wk 5<\/p>\n

    \n\t4. Bad Guys 2 (Uni) 3,288 (92) theaters, Fri $1.28M (-34%), 3-day $5.1M (-32%), Total $66.1M\/Wk 4<\/p>\n

    \n\t5. Nobody 2 (Uni) 3,282 (+22) theaters, Fri $1.05M (-73%), 3-day $3.5M (-62%), Total $16.3M\/Wk 2<\/p>\n

    \n\t5. Superman (WB) 2,388 (-317) theaters, Fri $955K (-33%), 3-day $3.5M (-33%), Total $347M\/Wk 7<\/p>\n

    \n\t7. Honey Don\u2019t (Foc) 1,317 theaters, Fri $1.44M, 3-day $3.2M\/Wk 1<\/p>\n

    \n\t7. The Naked Gun (Par) 2,776 (-251) theaters, Fri $900K (-35%), 3-day $3.2M (-35%), Total $47.8M\/Wk 4<\/p>\n

    \n\t9. Jurassic World Rebirth (Uni) 2,100 (-170) theaters, Fri $570k (-26%), 3-day $2.1M (-29%), Total $335.5M\/Wk 8<\/p>\n

    \n\t10. Relay (Apple\/WB) 1,483 theaters, Fri $1M, 3-day $2M\/Wk 1<\/p>\n

    \n\tHoney Don\u2019t!<\/strong> is doing 33% more money on less screens than Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke\u2019s previous Lesbian comedy caper, Drive Away Dolls which opened to $2.4M with a $1K theater average and a C CinemaScore. Honey Don\u2019t!\u2019s is $2,4k per screen. No CinemaScore, but the audience isn\u2019t excited about this single Coen brother comedy like they were with No Country for Old Men, giving it 43% on Rotten Tomatoes audience and a horrible 1 1\/2 stars and 28% definite recommend on Screen Engine\/Comscore\u2019s PostTrak. Those who showed up for the Margaret Qualley, Chris Evans and Aubrey Plaza romp were women at 54% with 62% Caucasian, 20% Hispanic and Latino, 7% Asian American and 7% Black. No PLFs, but a soft result despite hitting its tracking. The movie\u2019s play is on the coasts with NYC AMC Lincoln Square earning $24K to date. <\/p>\n

    \n\tWhen it comes to these arthouse releases, many of these distributors aren\u2019t spending much on P&A, including Bleecker Street and Vertical. It\u2019s how this post pandemic indie model largely works to tee up films in theatrical in order to send them to home entertainment where the real cash is made. <\/p>\n

    \t\t\t\t\t\t\"Riz<\/p>\n

    \t\t\t\t\tRiz Ahmed in \u2018Relay\u2019<\/p>\n

    \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBleecker Street<\/p>\n

    \n\tRelay<\/strong>, with good critic Rotten Tomatoes scores of 75% certified fresh is seeing its best playability in East, South, Midwest and West with AMC Lincoln Square NYC up to around $5K so far, the pic\u2019s highest grossing venue in North America. The Riz Ahmed-Lily James-Sam Worthington action thriller world premiered at TIFF last year and Bleecker Street acquired the pic two months later. Movie follows a broker of lucrative payoffs who is between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten them. He breaks his own rules when a new client seeks his protection to stay alive.<\/p>\n

    \n\tChina\u2019s animated Ne Zha 2<\/strong>, the fifth highest grossing movie of all-time at $2.15 billion, already played at the domestic box office back in February with a Mandarin print that $20.9M. A24 is handling this English re-release which isn\u2019t making a dent at $1.4M at 2,228 theaters or $628 per screen. A 91% general audience and 8% family turnout. Overall audiences gave it 85% positive and a\u00a061% definite while kids under 12 awards it 86% positive, but a lower 43% definite recommend. Friday was $696K. By the way, we heard A24\u2019s release of Apple\u2019s Spike Lee movie Highest 2 Lowest<\/strong> this past week at 100 locations did north of $1.5M<\/strong>, a solid per screen of $15K per sources. The Denzel Washington based on Akira Kurosawa\u2019s 1963 Japanese film High and Low continues to play in theaters this weekend. <\/p>\n

    \t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

    \n\tWe\u2019ll get more into Vertical\u2019s save of the Ron Howard multi-star period thriller Eden <\/strong>later this weekend, but after a $640K Friday it\u2019s putting up a $1.36M opening which is better than Vertical\u2019s Jude Law thriller The Order from December which debuted to $887K and ended its run at $2M domestic. Eden cost $55M gross before P&A with a net production cost of $35M; the movie largely funded by tax incentives and foreign sales. Offers made to AGC Studios for domestic weren\u2019t good enough for this Sydney Sweeney, Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas, and Daniel Bruhl movie. Why didn\u2019t distribs jump on this movie? Because it came out of its TIFF world premiere with middling reviews (currently at 55% Rotten). Vertical didn\u2019t pay a minimum guarantee, they were only on the hook for a very small P&A commitment with a distribution fee in the low to mid-teens. Eden is on a 30-day exclusive theatrical window before PVOD. In a marketplace where the agencies have a number of unsold starry movies, here\u2019s one path for mid-sized priced indie movies to the big screen. Rotten Tomatoes audiences like the movie better than critics at 69%. Like Sweeney\u2019s Americana last weekend, Eden wasn\u2019t positioned to be a double-digit P&A spend wide release. At 664 theaters Eden is posting a $2K theater average vs. Americana\u2018s $500K opening at 1,146 sites which did $436 per theater. <\/p>\n

    \n\tFRIDAY AM: <\/strong>Only one reported preview last night and that\u2019s Focus Features\u2019 Ethan Coen-directed and co-written Honey Don\u2019t!<\/strong>, which did $525,000 <\/strong>in both Thursday and early previews ahead of its 1,300-theater opening Friday, The frame is expected to be between $3M-$4M<\/strong>. Unlike other indie releases on the marquee this weekend, Honey Don\u2019t! is playing on a full schedule at theaters, not split.<\/p>\n

    \n\tIt\u2019s Coen\u2019s second feature with wife Tricia Cooke on which they both wrote and produce; she has long edited for the Coen brothers. Coen and Cooke\u2019s previous movie, which also starred Margaret Qualley, was 2024\u2019s Drive-Away Dolls, which did $450K in previews on its way to a not wowing $2.4M opening at 2,280 theaters. Reviews were much better on Drive-Away Dolls at 64% fresh than for Honey Don\u2019t!, which stands at 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. The latest movie follows a Western small-town private eye played by Qualley who is try to solve a local case involving a sex-crazed preacher played by Chris Evans. Meanwhile, she\u2019s having an affair with a cop played by Aubrey Plaza. The $20M Working Title production was the closing movie at this year\u2019s Cannes Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \n\tMeanwhile, New Line\u2019s Weapons<\/strong> passed the century mark Thursday at the domestic box office with a $2.4M take for the day, off 11%. The movie ends week 2 with $36.2M<\/strong>, down 43%, for a running cume of $100.2M<\/strong>. The original movie is soaring 42% ahead of another New Line August horror release, Annabelle: Creation, which stood at $64M after two weeks and finaled at $102M stateside.<\/p>\n

    \n\tWeapons\u2019 third weekend is expected to be around $13.5M, with sources believing that Netflix\/Sony Pictures Animation\u2019s Kpop Demons Hunters sing-along<\/a> in its mere Saturday and Sunday play sans AMC will outstrip the horror pic with around $15M+. If the anime movie falls short, it\u2019s only because it was frontloaded. But sources are going nuts for it.<\/p>\n

    \n\tWeek\u2019s top 5:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Weapons (WB) 3,450 theaters, Thu $2.4M (-11%), Wk $36.2M (-43%), Total $100.2M\/Wk 2<\/li>\n
    2. Freakier Friday (Dis) 3,975 theaters, Thu $1.37M (-12%), Wk $21M (-48%), Total $61.3M\/Wk 2<\/li>\n
    3. Fantastic Four: First Steps (Dis) 3,355 theaters, Thu $864K (-9%), Wk $13.1M (-44%), Total $251.3M\/Wk 4<\/li>\n
    4. Nobody 2 (Uni) 3,250 theaters, Thu $636K (-17%), Wk $12.8M\/Wk 1<\/li>\n
    5. Bad Guys 2 (Uni) 3,380 (-480) theaters, Thu $742K (-25%), Wk $11.3M (-32%), Total $61M\/Wk 3<\/li>\n
    6. \n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SATURDAY AM: Refresh for more analysis Warner Bros third weekend of Zach Cregger\u2019s Weapons is coming on stronger…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":169568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[171,97112,30075,53,4659,67,132,68,9826],"class_list":{"0":"post-169567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-honey-dont","10":"tag-kpop-demon-hunters","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-netflix","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-weapons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115079035200712157","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}