Chainsaw Man Carves Up the Weekend Box Office as the Springsteen Biopic Stumbles
Chainsaw Man revs to No. 1, carving up the weekend box office, while Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere stalls with a shockingly weak debut.
Anime just grabbed the weekend by the throat again. Crunchyroll's Chainsaw Man: The Movie is steamrolling to an easy number one with at least $15 million, which blows past the $10 million I had penciled in earlier this week. Meanwhile, the rest of the marketplace is still coughing up dust. Prestige stuff has been face-planting all fall — Roofman, The Smashing Machine, After the Hunt — and this weekend brings a couple more surprises, some good, some not so much.
Weekend snapshot
- Chainsaw Man: The Movie (Crunchyroll) – At least $15 million opening, clear number one. Anime fans continue to show up when most audiences aren’t, and bless them for it.
- Regretting You – About $13 million. For a Colleen Hoover adaptation, that’s softer than expected. Reviews are rough and the B CinemaScore is a bad sign for a romance.
- The Black Phone 2 – Around $12 million, down about 56% from last weekend. For horror, that drop is actually healthy. Last week’s champ holds pretty well.
- Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (Searchlight) – Per Deadline, it will be lucky to hit $10 million, which likely lands it in a distant fourth. This one was widely tipped to win the weekend, so that’s a face-slap. It’s directed by Scott Cooper and zooms in on a very specific moment in Bruce Springsteen’s life: writing the 'Nebraska' album. The B+ CinemaScore is fine, but not must-see-now. With a Hulu debut likely in a few weeks, the target demo may just wait.
- Shelby Oaks (Chris Stuckmann) – About $2.3 million. Reviews aren’t kind here either.
What went sideways for the Springsteen movie?
On paper, a Springsteen biopic sounds like easy money. In practice, this one is more granular than a greatest-hits crowdpleaser. Focusing on the Nebraska era is a cool creative choice, but it’s niche, and niche rarely opens big without killer buzz. The audience response (B+) suggests people like it well enough; they just don’t need to rush, especially if Hulu is around the corner.
Anime keeps carrying the load
This fall has been brutal for adult-leaning prestige titles. Anime, on the other hand, keeps delivering the one thing theaters need: urgency. Chainsaw Man: The Movie has a built-in fanbase that actually goes to theaters, and they’re pushing it far past early expectations.
What are you seeing this weekend? Tell me in the comments.