Weekend Box Office Shocker: PT Anderson Scores His Biggest Opening Ever
PT Anderson just notched the biggest opening weekend of his career, as WB’s One Battle After Another stormed to No. 1—marking the studio’s ninth chart-topping debut this year. The win comes with a caveat: the film still has a long way to go before it turns a profit.
As I flagged earlier this week, the box office shook out pretty much how it looked on paper: One Battle After Another came in strong, a few family titles underperformed, and horror kept doing horror things. The surprise is not who won, but how the numbers set up the next few weeks.
P.T. Anderson just scored his biggest opening ever
One Battle After Another bowed to $22.4 million domestically, which is a personal best opening weekend for director P.T. Anderson. That is legitimately impressive for an adult-skewing fall drama. The part that makes me raise an eyebrow: the reported budget is somewhere between $130–150 million, so this one is going to need legs. The good news is it earned an A CinemaScore, which usually translates to excellent word-of-mouth and steady holds.
Add in Leonardo DiCaprio above the title and the film pulled enough overseas business to land just under $50 million worldwide out of the gate. Awards buzz is basically a given if the audience response holds. The only self-inflicted risk here is if Warner Bros. jumps the gun and punts it to VOD or Max too early. Please, let it cook.
WB is on a heater
This is Warner Bros.' ninth number-one opener of the year, part of a run that arguably kicked off with A Minecraft Movie, continued through Sinners, and kept paying off with F1, Superman, Weapons, and more. The strategy here echoes how the studio has historically launched adult awards plays in the fall. The best-case scenario for One Battle After Another looks a lot like Ben Affleck's The Town and Argo: similar opening range, smaller budgets, great legs, and long afterlives as go-to catalog titles.
Family challenger blinked
DreamWorks' Gabby's Dollhouse was floated as a potential spoiler for the top spot, but it opened to a softer-than-hoped $13.7 million. Timing might be the issue more than interest; the core young female demo could be waiting a week for Taylor Swift's Life of a Showgirl release party event, which goes wide next weekend.
Anime and horror keep punching above their weight
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle landed in third with $6.8 million, pushing its domestic haul to $117.8 million. That is not normal for anime in the U.S., and it is a real line-in-the-sand moment for Crunchyroll as a distributor.
Right behind it, The Conjuring: Last Rites also pulled about $6.8 million this weekend. Demon Slayer finished a hair ahead, but we are basically talking a photo finish once you account for rounding. Last Rites is now at a massive $161 million domestic, and more than $400 million internationally, which makes it the eighth highest-grossing horror movie of all time worldwide. Not subtle.
Sequels, slides, and steady elders
Renny Harlin followed his sleeper hit The Strangers: Chapter 1 with a stumble: Chapter 2 opened to $5.9 million. The question now is whether the already-shot third chapter still gets a wide theatrical rollout after this start. TBD.
Jordan Peele-produced Him took a heavy second-week hit, dropping 72 percent to $3.6 million and a $20.7 million total. Meanwhile, The Long Walk is holding better, adding $3.4 million for $28 million domestic so far. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale continues to quietly bring in the older crowd with another $3.3 million, moving to $39 million domestic.
International flavor and one last whimper
They Call Him OG, a Telugu-language action entry, cracked the top ten at number nine with $1.42 million and now sits at over $5 million domestic. And then there is A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, the Colin Farrell/Margot Robbie two-hander that just never connected: $1.25 million this weekend, $5.9 million domestic total. For Sony, that is pretty much the worst-case outcome.
Weekend top 10 at a glance
- 1) One Battle After Another - $22.4M opening; just under $50M worldwide; A CinemaScore; budget reportedly $130–150M
- 2) Gabby's Dollhouse (DreamWorks) - $13.7M opening
- 3) Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle - $6.8M weekend; $117.8M domestic total
- 4) The Conjuring: Last Rites - about $6.8M weekend; $161M domestic total; $400M+ international; 8th highest-grossing horror ever worldwide
- 5) The Strangers: Chapter 2 - $5.9M opening
- 6) Him - $3.6M weekend; down 72% in week two; $20.7M domestic total
- 7) The Long Walk - $3.4M weekend; $28M domestic total
- 8) Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale - $3.3M weekend; $39M domestic total
- 9) They Call Him OG (Telugu) - $1.42M weekend; $5M+ domestic to date
- 10) A Big Bold Beautiful Journey - $1.25M weekend; $5.9M domestic total
What did you end up seeing this weekend? Tell me what played in your theater and how the crowd was.