1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Warner Bros. | Week 3
$26M Domestic Weekend
$226.8M Domestic Cume | $329.7M Global Cume
In a photo finish shocker, Warner Bros.’ long-gestating sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has three-peat-ed the #1 position ahead of Paramount’s animated franchiser Transformers One. The Tim Burton movie turned in an estimated $26M in 4,172 locations for a $6,232 PSA for a domestic cume of $226.8M, around three times the 1988 original’s $74.4M take. That’s a 49% drop over last week and enough to make this Burton’s third-highest domestic grosser under 1989’s landmark Batman at $251.1M.
Finally, there is a little positive news from overseas for this movie. It took in $17.2M this weekend on 11,685 screens in 76 markets, bringing the international total over the $100M mark with $103M. That’s still quite anemic compared to the domestic performance, and the global take is currently at $329.7M through Sunday.
The continued success of this title, combined with the launch of Transformers One, pushed the box office to 64% above this same frame in 2023, when Warners’ The Nun II had also three-peat-ed, and the overall box office revenue was $52,149,390 million.
2. Transformers One
Paramount Pictures | NEW
$25M Domestic Opening Weekend
$39M Global Cume
Paramount’s attempt to re-brand their once-shining robot IP into the animated realm with Transformers One underwhelmed this weekend with a #2 debut, taking in an estimated $25M from 3,978 screens for a $6,285 Per Screen Average. That is on the low end of expectations and wasn’t enough to circumvent the supernatural pull of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, even though matinee screenings attended by families were expected to put the Autobots over the top.
Word of mouth was quite positive with 89% critical on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a 98% audience score. CinemaScore was an “A” and PostTrak rating was 5 out of 5, though even these positive reactions may not be enough to carry the movie forward after Dreamworks’ The Wild Robot opens next weekend.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked, including $3.36M in Thursday previews…
- Friday – $9.56M
- Saturday – $9.15M
- Sunday – $6.29M
While not the lowest opening in the franchise—that honor goes to 2018’s Bumblebee—Transformers One did not approach its live-action brethren in terms of box office debuts…
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) – $108.9M opening/$402.1M cume
- Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) – $100M opening/$245.4M cume
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) – $97.8M opening/$352.3M cume
- Transformers (2007) – $70.5M opening/$319.2M cume
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) – $61M opening/$157.3M cume
- Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) – $44.6M opening/$130.1M cume
- Transformers One (2024) – $25M opening
- Bumblebee (2018) – $21.6M opening/$127.1M cume
An estimated 35% of the box office was from premium screens (PLF = 22%, IMAX = 9%, Motion Seats = 4%, 3D = 17%). The audience was predominantly general (64%), while families skewed toward dads (55%) and boys (62%).
Here’s how demographics played out…
- Caucasian – 42%
- Hispanic – 35%
- Black/AA – 10%
- Asian/Other – 13%
Internationally the movie took in an estimated $14M from from 50 international markets for a global total of $39M, about 3% below The LEGO Batman Movie and 16% below Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse for all release markets. The Top 3 territories were Mexico ($2.2M), Australia ($1.5M), and Japan ($820K). The film still has a great many more markets to arrive in, with 11 next week, including China, Korea, Brazil, and Italy. After that it’s Germany on October 10, the UK on October 11, and France on October 23.
The fact is this series has been on the wane for more than a decade, and recalibrating the series as explicitly kiddie-oriented may help build a long-term fanbase but did not improve immediate fortunes for Transformers One this weekend nor Bumblebee six years ago. Merchandise sales may also become a huge factor in whether or not the studio continues with animated Transformers entries, as when Pixar kept making Cars movies to diminishing returns due mainly to the huge merch revenue they generated.
4. Never Let Go
Lionsgate | NEW
$4.5M Domestic Opening Weekend
Lionsgate’s cold streak at the box office continued this weekend as their new horror picture, Never Let Go, opened to an estimated $4.5M on 2,667 screens for a $1,687 PSA, on the low end of our prediction panel’s forecast. The film ultimately received mixed reviews with a 65% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a 53% audience rating as well as a 62% Post Trak rating and “C+” CinemaScore, indicating yet another disappointing horror programmer for 2024. Launching the film at Fantastic Fest the day before opening was too little too late publicity-wise.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked:
- Friday – $1.66M
- Saturday – $1.714M
- Sunday – $1.126M
This is what demographics looked like…
- Caucasian – 39%
- Black – 27%
- Latino or Hispanic – 23%
- Asian – 7%
Having Oscar winner Halle Berry in the lead clearly didn’t draw audiences as she has not opened a theatrical movie since her minor 2017 hit Kidnap, which earned $30.7M. Director Alexandre Aja is also known for genre movies that are middling performers, with 2006’s The Hills Have Eyes ($41.7M) his biggest domestic earner and 2019’s Crawl the biggest globally ($91.7M). Never Let Go will have to go a country mile to get anywhere near those numbers with this low of an opening. Compare it to WB’s The Watchers, the other house-in-the-woods supernatural shocker which disappointed in June with a $19M cume, but still opened to $7M, bigger than Never Let Go. Lionsgate is near-certain to continue its losing streak next week with Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project Megalopolis, tracking for an opening similar to Never Let Go in the $5M range.
Other Notable Performances
Art house streamer MUBI gave the satirical body horror movie The Substance a wide launch on 1,949 screens for a $3.1M debut at #6 and a $1,591 PSA. Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, the film has received glowing reviews with 89% on RT (although audience score is 69%), and the 45-day theatrical window for this could help push Moore for a comeback Oscar nod.
In its ninth frame Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine took in an estimated $3.9M for the #5 spot and finally surpassed 2012’s The Avengers ($623.3M) as the 5th highest-grossing film in the MCU domestically with $627.2M. Globally the movie now stands at $1.316B to be the #7 all-time MCU title, with Black Panther in close range at #6 with $1.334B.
Another MCU veteran, Sebastian Stan, had a new movie debut as A24’s A Different Man arrived on 4 screens earning $56,126 thousand for a $14K PSA. Co-starring Adam Pearson, the genre-bender about a man who undergoes facial surgery will get a limited expansion on September 27 with rollout to continue gradually throughout the fall season.
Universal and Dreamworks’ animated The Wild Robot had its international soft launch this weekend earning $6.9M from 25,000 screens in 8 markets. The two big earners were China at $4M (3x Migration) where it was the top new opener and top MPA title. Australia brought in $2.0M including $0.8M from previews to become the down under market’s #1 title.
Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates | Weekend 38 – 2024
Total 3-Day Domestic Estimates: $81,442,289M | (+64% vs 2023)
| Title | Weekend Estimate | Locations | PSA | Domestic Total | Week | Distributor |
| Beetlejuice Beetlejuice | $26,000,000 | 4,172 | $6,232 | $226,848,382 | 3 | Warner Bros. |
| Transformers One | $25,000,000 | 3,978 | $6,285 | $25,000,000 | 1 | Paramount |
| Speak No Evil | $5,900,000 | 3,375 | $1,748 | $21,454,590 | 2 | Universal |
| Never Let Go | $4,500,000 | 2,667 | $1,687 | $4,500,000 | 1 | Lionsgate |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | $3,900,000 | 2,450 | $1,592 | $627,284,625 | 9 | Disney |
| Substance, The | $3,100,000 | 1,949 | $1,591 | $3,100,000 | 1 | MUBI |
| Am I Racist? | $2,536,000 | 1,600 | $1,585 | $9,007,507 | 2 | SDG Releasing |
| Reagan | $1,666,659 | 1,850 | $901 | $26,527,335 | 4 |
Showbiz Direct Distribution
|
| JUNG KOOK: I AM STILL | $1,425,748 | 769 | $1,854 | $2,574,318 | 1 | Trafalgar Releasing |
| Alien: Romulus | $1,326,000 | 1,350 | $982 | $103,621,150 | 6 | 20th Century Studios |
| The Forge | $1,250,000 | 1,181 | $1,058 | $26,320,747 | 5 | Sony |
| It Ends with Us | $1,000,000 | 1,164 | $859 | $146,836,337 | 7 | Sony |
| N/A | ||||||
| The Killer’s Game | $1,000,000 | 2,623 | $381 | $4,826,997 | 2 | Lionsgate |
| Despicable Me 4 | $650,000 | 796 | $817 | $360,368,610 | 12 | Universal |
| Twisters | $500,000 | 650 | $769 | $267,190,675 | 10 | Universal |
| Ardaas Sarbat De Bhalle Di | $465,060 | N/A | $465,060 | 2 | Shree International | |
| Blink Twice | $307,304 | 305 | $1,008 | $22,762,778 | 5 | Amazon MGM Studios |
| My Old Ass | $281,841 | 33 | $8,541 | $512,301 | 2 | Amazon MGM Studios |
| Inside Out 2 | $144,000 | 250 | $576 | $652,845,084 | 15 | Disney |
| God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust | $98,218 | 444 | $221 | $1,596,342 | 2 | Fathom Events |
| The Critic | $70,049 | 113 | $620 | $361,152 | 2 |
Greenwich Entertainment
|
| A Different Man | $56,126 | 4 | $14,032 | $56,126 | 1 | A24 |
| The Front Room | $53,688 | 98 | $548 | $2,971,276 | 3 | A24 |
| Between the Temples | $45,421 | 68 | $668 | $2,027,733 | 5 | Sony Pictures Classics |
| Didi | $45,000 | 51 | $882 | $4,819,910 | 9 | Focus Features |
| Faith of Angels | $37,622 | 30 | $1,254 | $150,711 | 2 | Purdie Distribution |
| Sing Sing | $32,551 | 35 | $930 | $2,711,146 | 11 | A24 |
| Strange Darling | $15,805 | 30 | $527 | $3,065,746 | 5 | Magenta Light Studios |
| Tokyo Cowboy | $11,693 | 15 | $780 | $110,012 | 4 | Purdie Distribution |
| In the Summers | $10,950.00 | 2 | $5,475.00 | $10,950 | 1 | Music Box Films |
| Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field | $10,254.00 | 1 | $10,254.00 | $10,254 | 1 |
Greenwich Entertainment
|
| Music For Mushrooms | $2,300 | 1 | $2,300 | $13,428 | 2 | Area23a |
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