So far, the September box office has been propelled by sleeper hits. After the back-to-back surprise successes of “The Conjuring: Last Rites” and “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” will this weekend’s newcomers continue the trend?
At least heading into the weekend, “Him” and “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” appear to be targeting modest debuts. Universal’s “Him,” an R-rated sports thriller produced by Jordan Peele, is aiming for $15 million to $18 million from 3,100 North American venues in its first weekend of release. Meanwhile, Sony’s romantic drama “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, is looking to collect $8 million to $10 million from 3,200 theaters to start.
Despite the two new nationwide releases, last weekend’s champ “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” is expected to reign again at the domestic box office. The Sony-owned Crunchyroll action adventure shattered expectations with $70 million in its opening, marking the biggest domestic debut ever for an anime film. It more than doubled the benchmark previously set by “Pokémon: The First Movie,” which launched with $31 million in 1999. Even with a huge drop in ticket sales, “Demon Slayer” is expected to bring in significant revenue with projections of $21 million to $25 million in its second weekend in theaters.
“Him” cost $27 million, so the film won’t require a ton to turn a theatrical profit. Justin Tipping directed the mind-bender, which stars Marlon Wayans as an aging, nearly retired quarterback who trains a young up-and coming football player (Tyriq Withers). The film has been marketed as a psychological thriller, however, so expect that mentor-mentee relationship to have bone-chilling consequences. Reviews are under embargo.
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” which hopes to serve as counter-programming against the smattering of scary movies on marquees, carries a $45 million price tag. In the R-rated film, Robbie and Farrell play two single strangers who meet at a wedding and get to relive important moments from their respective pasts, illustrating how they got to the present. Kogonada (“Pachinko,” “After Yang”) directed “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” from a script by “The Menu” screenwriter Seth Reiss. Reviews might not help in terms of word-of-mouth; the film currently holds a 52% rotten average on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Variety’s critic Tomris Laffly described “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” as “an unfortunate bore” and a “love story that feels cold and distant.”
At this point in the year, the domestic box office is 4.4% above 2024 but 22.4% behind the pre-pandemic days of 2019, according to Comscore. Upcoming fall releases, such as Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Disney’s sci-fi sequel “Tron: Ares,” video game adaptation “Mortal Kombat II” as well as Thanksgiving offerings of “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2” will attempt to draw audiences en masse and boost ticket sales to something resembling its pre-COVID stature.