Demon Slayer Tops Box Office with $17M+ as Big Bold Beautiful Journey Struggles with $3M+

SUNDAY AM:The leisurely weekend is part of the second phase of Sony/Crunchyroll’sDemon Slayer: Infinity Castle with $17.3M. Universal’s Him slowed its pace in the run to$13.5Mfor second position. One weekend, Sony is a wealthy individual inDemon Slayer, and a destitute individual withA Grand, Courageous, and Stunning Adventurewhich is crashing with $3.5M.

Demon Slayer Rose 62% on its second Saturday to $7.3M, following its second Friday’s total of $4.5M.Him dropped by -33% on Saturday to $4.3M from a first Friday/previews of $6.4M. Critical reviews onHim and Big Bold Beautiful Journey were dreadful respectively at 29% and 37%, with PostTrak ratings for both films in the low 60% range and 2 1/2 stars.

All titles appear to be approximately $77.8M, a decrease of 48% from last week, but only a -4% drop compared to a year ago whenBeetlejuice Beetlejuice was still the top film in its third weekend with $25.9 million and Paramount had the animatedTransformers One which bowed to $24.6M.

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SATURDAY AM: After two weekends of exceeding expectations, the September box office slows down, dropping -49% from the previous week to approximately $77M. Sony/Crunchyroll’sDemon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Universal/Monkeypaw’s Him are possibly tied with $15M-$16M apiece— it’s still too early to determine which one is number one, even though Sony and Universal have dropped to number one and number two.

Infinity Castle It’s performing exactly like an anime film, heavily front-loaded, with a second weekend decline of -77%, but as we mentioned, the highest earning anime movie domestically is anticipated to surpass $100M today.

Him Earned $6.47 million on Friday with a CinemaScore of C-, while its Rotten Tomatoes scores stood at 28% from critics and 58% from viewers. Universal is reporting that the Jordan Peele-produced film has reached $15 million in its second weekend, with an expected decline on Sunday because of NFL games, projected at -37% for this horror movie centered around football.

Here’s the unfortunate update from the weekend, which many had anticipated: Sony’s attempt to attract female audiences with a romantic drama featuring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell.A Grand, Courageous, and Stunning Adventure, is not finding a road at the box office with $3.5M For the $50M studio acquisition in 6th place. The film was not developed or produced by Robbie’s LuckyChap. The Sony release is being outperformed by an animated film and a horror movie featuring a new actor and a 1990s comedian (Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans). Many are ringing the alarm for original films, which this one was, a top title from The Black List, written by Seth Reiss and directed by up-and-coming filmmaker Kogonada. However, what this illustrates is that having star power attached to non-IP content isn’t enough to attract audiences when it’s burdened with bad critical reviews (this film received a 38% rating with many complaints about its pacing), and less-than-stellar audience scores with a 44% definite recommend and 2 1/2 stars on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak as well as a B- CinemaScore. Ugh.

That being said, I recognize that the stars and everyone involved had a wonderful time creating the film. Ultimately, the movie did not reflect what was in the script.

In comparison, the specialty adult summer play, A24’sMaterialists, Featuring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, it appears to be a blockbuster with an $11.3 million domestic debut (and over $100 million globally for a movie that netted $20 million). However, it received better reviews at 79% certified fresh. Interestingly enough,Materialists and Big Bold Journey have the same audience presence as B- and mid 60% RT popcorn score.

At that point, some say that maybe,Big Bold Beautiful Journey Should have been categorized as a niche film due to its aged quality, rather than a typical commercial romantic movie. Fortunately, the film did not have the lowest opening or wide release for either Robbie or Farrell. For Robbie, this movie falls below the performance of such unsuccessful projects.Babylon ($3.6M) and Amsterdam ($6.4 million) and for Farrell it’s underSeven Psychopaths ($4.2M opening) and above Voyagers ($1.4M).

Although RelishMix reports a social media presence of 266 million across TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube, this is 57% higher than other romance films (but 21% lower than the Sony-Wayfarer title)It Ends With Uswhich achieved over 377 million on social), there’s a bad stink onBig Bold Beautiful Journey With Analytics Corp observing a mix of negative feedback.

Reports from RelishMix state, “Some viewers detect sentimentality and a polished, algorithm-driven sheen. Critics describe the atmosphere as superficial, with comments like ‘This feels like a trailer for a fake movie’ and reference an overly sweet tone, saying ‘A touchy-feely film… emotional diabetes.’ Comparisons tend to be warning signs with”Black Mirrorand even AI-generated commercial jokes, along with some quick remarks about age and physique that involve the cast. Receipts arrive with ‘WhatBlack MirrorWhich episode is this?” and “Looks like an AI-generated advertisement.

Him is 51%/49% men-to-women with a low definite recommendation of 41%, but it’s horror, which gives it more appeal thanBig Bold Beautiful Journey. Diversity demonstrations consist of 36% Black individuals, 34% Caucasian individuals, 20% Latino and Hispanic individuals, and 6% Asian Americans. Men over the age of 25 made up 33% of ticket buyers, while women over 25 accounted for 31%, men under 25 represented 19%, and women under 25 were at 17% for the R-rated film. PLFs, which are divided withDemon Slayer, are responsible for 37% of the weekend traffic. A balanced distribution across the country forHimNotable touchdowns in the West, South Central, South, and East regions following a series of locations since August in football. The top earnings in the country so far have been generated by AMC Universal’s Citywalk Hollywood (CA), with nearly $32K.

Big Bold Beautiful Journey 59% of the audience was female, with 44% of those women being over 25, who gave the film its highest ratings at 71% on PostTrak. It appears that some men were brought along as plus-ones, as the second-largest demographic was men over 25, accounting for 32%. This is supported by the fact that nearly 40% of ticket buyers came with a partner, spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend. The diversity breakdown shows 58% Caucasian, 25% Latino and Hispanic, 8% Asian American, and 5% Black. A small number of PLFs make up 12% of the weekend’s business, with the West, Midwest, and Mountain regions contributing the majority of the revenue. AMC Grove is the top-grossing venue this weekend, earning just under $12,000.

Saturday AM estimates:

FRIDAY AM: Universal and Monkeypaw’s football horror film Him did $2 millionfrom screenings that started at 2 p.m. on Thursday. That figure is slightly higher than Lionsgate’s preview earnings from Stephen King’sThe Long Walk ($1.3 million) per week, and Blumhouse’sSpeak No Evil ($1.3M) a year ago. Him, featuring Marlon Wayans, Julia Fox, and Tyriq Withers, is projected to debut in the mid-teens million range this weekend;The Long Walk opened to $11.7M, while Speak No Evil generated $11.4 million in its opening weekend.

Critics aren’t staying in the seats forHim Rated 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audience last night wasn’t pleased with a 59% score. Wow. We’ll have to wait and see how this unfolds.Him was created for a net $27M.

Sony/Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is anticipated to remain strong during its second weekend with a revenue range of$14M-$21M.The film will be shown on Imax screens alongsideHim but keep the PLFs. Pic’s first week ends with $87.4M after a $2.6M Thursday, a drop of 26%. It’s already the top-grossing anime film ever in the domestic market, surpassing 1999’sPokemon from Warner Bros ($85.7M). Then,Demon Slayer will secure $100M in the U.S., marking another first for an anime film in the United States and Canada.

Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie’s romantic film from Columbia PicturesA Grand, Courageous, and Stunning Adventure, is not very large in its previews with $400,000 From Thursday, early screenings started at 4 p.m. across 2,737 locations. Critics were not impressed, with a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. There is no audience score available. Sony estimates the opening at $10 million, while others believe it will be significantly lower.

Top five this week:

1.) Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (Sony) 3,315 theaters, Thursday $2.6M (-29% from Wednesday), Week $87.4M/Wk 1

2.) Conjuring: Last Rites (NL) 3,802 theaters, Thursday $1.56M (-8%), Week $33.2M (-68%), Total $138.2M/Wk 2

3.) Downton Abbey: Grand Finale (Foc) 3,694 theaters, Thursday $1.38M (-16%), Week$25.3M/Wk 1

4.) Long Walk (LG) 2,845 theaters, Thursday $890K (-17%), Week$16.4M, Wk 1

5.) Toy Story 30th anniversary reissue(Dis) 2,375 theaters, Thursday $174K (-33%), Week$4.4M, Lifetime cume $227.6M/Wk 1