Weekend Box Office Report: September 13th, 2024 to September 15th, 2024

Warner Bros.'s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice took in $51.35 million this weekend to comfortably lead the domestic box office for a second consecutive frame. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice experienced a second weekend decline of 53.7 percent, which was a very respectable second weekend hold for a long-awaited sequel with significant opening weekend demand. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice also outpaced second weekend consensus expectations heading into the weekend, which had tended to fall in the range of $45 million to $50 million. Good critical reviews, good word of mouth and the film skewing towards older moviegoers are all factors that look to be helping out the initial holding power of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. With a ten-day domestic start of $187.76 million, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is already quickly approaching the $200 million domestic mark. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice grossed an estimated $3.5 million from domestic IMAX screens this weekend, which brings the film's domestic IMAX total to $14.2 million. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be facing tougher new competition next weekend from Paramount's Transformers One, which will be playing on IMAX screens.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice grossed $28.8 million internationally this weekend from 76 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $76.5 million and current global haul to $264.3 million. International debuts for the film this weekend included $4.7 million in France and $2.2 million in Germany. In holdover markets, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was down a very encouraging 43 percent from last weekend. Additional totals through Sunday for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice by international market include $18.9 million in the United Kingdom, $11.0 million in Mexico, $5.2 million in Spain, $4.8 million in Australia, $3.5 million in Italy, $2.4 million in Brazil, $2.2 million in Germany and $1.7 million in Poland. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice grossed an estimated $1.25 million from international IMAX screens this weekend. Respective IMAX totals through Sunday stand at $3.4 million internationally and at $17.6 million globally.

As had been widely expected, Universal and Blumhouse's Speak No Evil was the weekend's top new release with a second place debut of $11.40 million. The James Watkins directed R-rated thriller led by James McAvoy opened right in line with consensus expectations, which had tended to range from $10 million to $13 million. Speak No Evil was also off to a decent start with the film's modest price-tag in mind. The opening weekend performance for Speak No Evil was in the same neighborhood as the $10.30 million start of fellow Universal release Abigail this past April and the $10.54 million debut of Disney / Searchlight's Barbarian back in September of 2022. The audience breakdown for Speak No Evil skewed 51 percent female, 49 percent male, a significant 70 percent over 25 and 30 percent under 25. Speak No Evil has gone over very well with critics and the film looks to be going over fairly well with audiences after receiving a good B+ rating on CinemaScore. With an opening weekend to opening day ratio of just 2.35 to 1 (after starting out with $4.85 million on Friday, including an estimated $1.3 million from Thursday preview shows that began early at 2PM), Speak No Evil did display initial front-loading this weekend, though some of that front-loading was due to this Friday being Friday the 13th.

Internationally, Speak No Evil started out with $9.3 million from 73 international markets. That places the film's global launch at $20.7 million. Debuts by international market for Speak No Evil this weekend included $1.84 million in the United Kingdom, $0.81 million in Mexico, $0.76 million in Spain, $0.50 million in Australia and $0.49 million in Italy. This coming week Speak No Evil will open in France on Wednesday (September 18) and in Germany on Thursday (September 19).

Disney's Deadpool & Wolverine placed in third this weekend with $5.23 million. After last weekend's sharp decline in the face of the debut of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Deadpool & Wolverine re-stabilized this weekend by decreasing by just 25.4 percent. With a 52-day total domestic gross of $621.52 million, Deadpool & Wolverine has passed 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi to move into 14th place on the all-time unadjusted domestic list. This weekend also saw Deadpool & Wolverine pass the $1.3 billion global mark. Deadpool & Wolverine grossed an estimated $5.7 million internationally this weekend. Respective totals for Deadpool & Wolverine stand at $683.5 million internationally and at a massive $1.305 billion globally.
SDG Releasing and Daily Wire Studios' Am I Racist? debuted in fourth place this weekend with $4.54 million. The Justin Folk directed political comedy documentary starring conservative commentator Matt Walsh was playing in 1,517 locations this weekend, which gave the film a solid per-location average of $2,995 for the frame.

Am I Racist? was off to a good start by recent theatrical standards for a documentary film (both political or non-political standards); but at the same time it had felt like there was a bit more opening weekend break-out potential for the film given the size of Walsh's online following, the likely front-loaded nature of the film and that a few weeks ago Reagan (also aimed at conservative audiences) had a three-day start of $7.65 million. Like Speak No Evil, Am I Racist? displayed clear initial front-loading this weekend with an opening weekend to opening day ratio of just 2.32 to 1 (Am I Racist? had a Friday gross of $1.96 million, which included Thursday preview shows that began very early at 1PM). Am I Racist? could potentially have relatively strong midweek business going forward and the film looks to be going over very well with moviegoers who have watched the film, as Am I Racist? received an A rating on CinemaScore (though obviously the film's audience is very targeted).

ShowBiz Direct's mentioned Reagan rounded out this weekend's top five with $2.90 million. While Reagan was down a respectable 39.9 percent from last weekend, the film didn't hold up quite as well this weekend as it did last weekend, likely due as a result of the new competition from Am I Racist? (and to a lesser extent to the new competition from Fathom Events' release of God's Not Dead: In God We Trust). Reagan has grossed $23.24 million through 17 days of domestic release, which already gives the film a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 3.04 to 1 (thanks in part to strong word of mouth and the film's relatively strong midweek business thus far).

Meanwhile, Lionsgate's The Killer's Game debuted in sixth place with a very lackluster $2.70 million. The J.J. Perry directed action comedy starring Dave Bautista opened below the already low pre-release expectations for the film. On a positive note, The Killer's Game did receive a good B+ rating from audiences on CinemaScore. The Killer's Game represents another recent under-performer for Lionsgate (following in the footsteps of Borderlands and The Crow last month). The distributor will hope to have at least somewhat better results this coming weekend with the release of Never Let Go.

In other box office news, Disney and 20th Century's Alien: Romulus passed the $100 million domestic mark this weekend. Alien: Romulus placed in seventh this weekend with $2.39 million, which represented a 39.3 percent decline from last weekend. The 31-day domestic total for Alien: Romulus stands at $101.26 million. The box office performance of Alien: Romulus has been very encouraging for the Alien franchise, after 2017's Alien: Covenant grossed a disappointing $74.26 million during its domestic run. Internationally, Alien: Romulus grossed an estimated $6.3 million this weekend from 52 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $229.4 million (including an impressive $104.2 million from China) and the film's current global haul to $330.7 million.

Read more at BoxOfficeReport.com