Another weekend, another huge win for Warner Bros. The studio is on a major hot streak this year and horror is helping to carry the load in a big, big way. Case in point, director Zach Cregger’s hotly-anticipated Weapons came in above expectations at the box office in its debut, taking the number one spot on the charts. This, despite the fact that it opened directly against the far more family-friendly Freakier Friday from Disney. Horror stays winning.
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Weapons topped the domestic charts with an estimated $42.5 million. That was above pre-release expectations, which largely had it in the $30 million range. The film also pulled in $27.5 million overseas, giving it a $70 million global start. Even with a budget in the $40 million range, that’s outstanding. It speaks volumes about the positive word of mouth that’s spreading, as it’s the best reviewed horror movie of the year, save for Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. It should be lost on nobody that both of these are original movies and both of them hail from Warner Bros.
It simply cannot be overstated just how rare this big of an opening is for an original film of any kind in recent years. It’s tough to get people to leave the house in the age of streaming. Yet, horror can often be the genre that can still deliver an original hit. It doesn’t always pan out but this is a downright monster success. The fact that the August release calendar is somewhat light only means that Cregger’s latest can potentially thrive for weeks to come.
In the film, all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanishes on the same night at exactly the same time, leaving the surrounding community to question who – or what – is behind their disappearance. Julia Garner (Ozark), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Alden Ehrenreich (Ironheart), Amy Madigan (Streets of Fire) and Austin Abrams (Euphoria) star.
Disney’s Freakier Friday, which is also receiving solid buzz from its intended audience, landed in second with an estimated $29 million. It’s rare that a Disney movie with a larger potential audience comes in second to an original, R-rated horror movie and yet, here we are. It speaks to what Cregger has been able to accomplish in such a short while, with this serving as the filmmaker’s follow-up to his solo feature debut Barbarian, which became an unexpected hit in 2022. Cregger is now two for two and his Hollywood stock just went up in a big, bad way.
WB and New Line benefited from a relative lack of competition in the horror genre, with NEON’s Together pulling in just $2.6 million on its second weekend after its strong debut. Meanwhile, I Know What You Did Last Summer has fallen out of the top ten and even Jurassic World Rebirth is winding down its impressive run. So if you wanted horror this weekend, Cregger was the man to deliver the goods.
All eyes are on what Cregger will do next. That is poised to be a reboot of the Resident Evil franchise for Sony Pictures. Whatever he decides to do after? That’s to be determined but after this, he’s going to have no shortage of options.
Weapons is in theaters now. For more, get the details on Zach Cregger’s upcoming Resident Evil reboot.
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