Well, the party had to end eventually. After two weekends of the September box office being on fire, we’ve got two badly reviewed movies having fittingly lousy openings.
Our number one film, once again, is Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which easily leads the pack with a take of $17 million. As for the so-called “drop” from last weekend’s mammoth opening, this isn’t a matter of poor word-of-mouth or anything like that, as fans rightfully love this movie which is absolutely spectacular on the big screen. But as I said last week, this was inevitably going to be frontloaded. If you haven’t watched every episode of the TV series going in, you’re going to be pretty confused. But that’s enough negativity. With $104 million so far, Infinity Castle surpasses Pokémon: The First Movie as the biggest anime film ever in the states, and has also topped Sausage Party to become the biggest R-rated animated movie ever (granted, plenty of kids watch the TV show, so maybe their parents are bringing them). Globally, it’s the biggest Japanese film ever with a worldwide take of $555 million. In short, Demon Slayer is slayin’!
What isn’t slayin’ is Him, which a few months ago was looking like one of the more promising movies of September, only to be intercepted by Infinity Castle. The sad truth is Universal knew they had a dud here, even with Jordan Peele’s name slapped all over the marketing (for those who haven’t caught on, he’s only on board as a producer). They lifted the review embargo the very day it opened, and critics were predictably savage. Initially, it looked like Demon Slayer and Him might be in a photo finish for first place, but word-of-mouth is very quickly tackling this one with an opening of only $13.5 million over four days.
Unfortunately, things are even worse for our other major newcomer (and I’m not talking about whatever the hell Afterburn is, which is apparently a post apocalyptic thriller about…stealing the Mona Lisa?). A Big Bold Beautiful Journey–which sounds like the title of a Fred Rogers biopic–fails to even make the top five with a simply dismal take of $3 million. That can’t only be blamed on mediocre reviews. Clearly, there simply wasn’t interest in this romantic dramady inspired by the works of Hayao Miyazaki. By the way, this is Margot Robbie’s first movie since Barbie. Suffice it to say A Big Beautiful Journey is no Barbie. Do audiences just not show up for sentimental films like this when they can watch them on Hallmark for free?
Faring surprisingly well in its third weekend of release of The Conjuring: Last Rites, which is now the biggest movie in the franchise with $151 million, which is no small accomplishment for a series that’s twelve years old (wait, that means I’m getting old? Oh no). Even more impressive is just how strong it’s been performing internationally. Seriously, who had The Conjuring: Last Rites beating supposed box office juggernauts Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps overseas on their 2025 bingo cards? Because that’s going to happen by this time next week.
As a final note, last weekend, I claimed Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle had the best opening ever for a foreign language film. This was a mistake, as that title technically belongs to 2004’s The Passion of the Christ. My apologies to Jesus.
Anyway, the top ten, via The Numbers
