Weapons Reigns at Box Office With $25 Million Second Weekend

Box Office Update: "Weapons" Leads with Strong Performance

As the summer box office season winds down, Warner Bros./New Line's "Weapons" continues to dominate the charts. The film earned an impressive $25 million during its second weekend, maintaining its position at the top of the box office. While this is not as strong as the 3% drop seen by fellow Warner horror hit "Sinners" earlier in the year, it still represents a 43% decrease from its opening weekend gross of $43.5 million.

The film has now accumulated a domestic total of $89 million and a worldwide total of $148.8 million, with a production budget of $38 million. This performance marks "Weapons" as the sixth straight Warner Bros. release to open above $40 million in North America. It is also on track to become the sixth consecutive film from the studio to surpass $100 million in domestic earnings.

Warner Bros. faced a challenging first quarter of 2025 with several underperforming films such as "Companion," "Mickey 17," and "Alto Knights." However, the studio rebounded with the massive success of Legendary’s "A Minecraft Movie," which generated nearly $1 billion at the box office. This momentum continued with films like "Sinners," "Final Destination: Bloodlines," Apple’s "F1," and DC’s "Superman."

Up next for New Line is "The Conjuring: Last Rites," set for a September release. Early projections suggest the film could earn $35 million during its opening weekend.

Other Notable Performances

Disney’s "Freakier Friday" remains in second place this week, with a 50% drop from its $28.5 million opening weekend, earning $14.5 million this time around. The film has accumulated a domestic total of $54.8 million and a global total of $86.3 million against a $42 million budget.

Universal’s "Nobody 2" makes its debut in third place. As a sequel to the 2021 film "Nobody," the new movie opened with $9.25 million, showing modest growth from its predecessor’s $6.8 million opening. Despite not receiving as much acclaim as the original, "Nobody 2" has received generally positive reviews, scoring a B+ on CinemaScore and 78% from critics and 89% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. With a budget of $25 million, the film aims to exceed the $57.5 million global total of the first "Nobody."

Marvel Studios’ "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" drops significantly in its fourth weekend, earning only $8.8 million. Although the film has reached a domestic total of $247 million and a global total of $468 million, it still falls short compared to other recent Marvel releases like "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" ($845.5 million) and "Deadpool & Wolverine" ($1.33 billion).

Universal/DreamWorks' "The Bad Guys 2" rounds out the top five with $6.9 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic total to $56 million. It is performing in line with the original "Bad Guys" film, which had a three-weekend total of $57.3 million.

New Releases and Industry Insights

Lionsgate released Sydney Sweeney’s latest film, "Americana," in 1,146 locations. Despite Sweeney's recent media attention due to her American Eagle jeans ads, the film struggled, earning just $500,000 across those locations. In contrast, A24 released Spike Lee’s "Highest 2 Lowest" in 220 theaters ahead of its September 5 Apple TV+ release, grossing $894,000 with an average of $4,062 per theater, compared to roughly $460 for "Americana."

"Americana" was a 2023 SXSW film that premiered before Sweeney’s breakout role in "Anyone But You." Lionsgate released the film through its Premier Releasing label with a targeted strategy and a combined acquisition and marketing budget of $6 million, aiming to recoup profits through home platforms.

Looking ahead, Lionsgate is focusing on another upcoming film starring Sweeney: "The Housemaid," a Paul Feig-directed adaptation of Freida McFadden’s thriller novel. The film is set for a wide release this holiday season.