Box office: Dennis Quaid’s ‘Reagan’ opens in top 5 while other new Labor Day movies bomb

It was a disastrous Labor Day weekend in movie theaters as seven new movies were released nationwide, but only two of them opened in the top 10. Read on for the weekend box office report.

Labor Day has always been hit or miss as the final holiday weekend of the summer movie season, which may be why studios often will just avoid it altogether, as was the case in 2019 and 2022. This weekend only one major studio (Sony) released a movie into over 3,000 theaters, while another new distributor (Showbiz Direct) ended up having more success with its own wide release, though this still ended up being a second movie-dumping weekend in a row.

Not that it mattered, since the weekend was always likely to be won by Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool and Wolverine,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Indeed, it remained in first place for a second weekend, as it also returned to IMAX theaters. It led the weekend box office with $15.2 million over the three-day portion of the weekend (down 17%), and it made an estimated $19.5 million including Monday. It was the only movie this weekend to make more than $12 million over the four-day weekend.

As of Monday the movie has crossed the $600 milestone domestically, only the 16th movie to ever do that and Disney’s second movie to do that this summer after “Inside Out 2.” “Deadpool and Wolverine” added another $13.9 million internationally this weekend, to bring its global total to $1.26 billion. (To compare, the previous two “Deadpool” movies didn’t even make it to $800 million globally.)

Disney also took second place with its R-rated franchise reboot/sequel “Alien: Romulus,” which remained in that spot with $9.1 million over the three-day weekend and an estimated $11.2 million including Monday. After three weeks it has grossed $90.6 million domestically, and over the weekend, it added another $22.6 million overseas for a global total of $283.5 million.

Universal expanded its hit sequel “Twisters” back into some premium formats, including Regal’s 4DX, a huge boon for the movie, as it ended up making 25% more this weekend than last weekend to move into third place with $7.7 million over the three-day weekend and $9.6 million including Monday. It has grossed $260.4 million domestically so far, making it the fifth highest-grossing movie of the year.

Based on estimates, it looked like Blake Lively‘s “It Ends with Us” might have some real competition for third place, but instead, it ended up taking fourth place behind “Twisters” with a three-day weekend take of $7.4 million and a four-day projection of $9.5 million. As of Monday it has grossed $135.8 million in North America, and it added another $15.8 million overseas for a global total of $283.7 million, making it Lively’s highest-grossing movie to date.

As far as the weekend’s biggest new wide release, Dennis Quaid played “Reagan,” as in Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President during the ’80s, and politics clearly came into play when critics trashed the movie, only giving it an 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even with such bad reviews, it managed to make $2.6 million on Friday (including $525k in Thursday previews), and it’s currently neck-and-neck with Lively’s movie, though it’s currently projected to open in fifth place with $7.4 million and $9.2 million for its four-day opening. Audiences seemed to dig it, going by the “A” from CinemaScore, so word-of-mouth business could help it in September, a fine start for new distributor Showbiz Direct.

Last week’s openers “Blink Twice” and “The Forge” were neck-and-neck for sixth place but “Blink Twice” came out ahead with $4.8 million (down 34%) to “The Forge’s”$4.6 million (down 31%), although the former is still playing in almost twice as many theaters. As of this writing “Blink Twice” is slightly ahead with $16.6 million grossed so far (through Monday) to “The Forge’s” $16 million.

Universal’s animated “Despicable Me 4” managed to maintain its place in the top 10, taking eighth place with $4.1 million, which was down just 4% from last weekend. It’s estimated to bring in $5.6 million over the four-day weekend to bring its domestic total to $355.6 million.

Opening into over 3,000 theaters, “AfrAId” – a high-concept tech horror film from Blumhouse and Sony – would normally be the perfect movie to do decently over Labor Day, but the lack of promotion, as well as the horrible 25% on Rotten Tomatoes pretty much killed it. It ended up opening in ninth place with $3.7 million, averaging less than $1,500 per theater, which is absolutely terrible. Things weren’t improved by its four-day opening of $4.4 million, and the horror movie’s “C+” CinemaScore does not bode well for it remaining in theaters very long.

None of the five other new wide releases even made it into the top 10, with “Inside Out 2” and “Coraline” being successful gatekeepers in keeping everything else out. Disney even re-expanded its mega-hit Pixar sequel into 1,100 more theaters, in hopes of getting one more weekend in the top 10. Instead, the animated “Coraline” made another $3.1 million over the three-day weekend, taking tenth place over the $2.6 million made by “Inside Out 2” this weekend. Even so, “Inside Out 2” has crossed $650 million domestically through Monday and $1.67 billion worldwide through Sunday, passing 2019’s “The Lion King” remake to become the ninth-biggest movie of all-time at the global box office.

Tyrese Gibson starred in the crime-thriller “1992,” along with Scott Eastwood and the late Ray Liotta, which Lionsgate opened into 875 locations, where it grossed $1.4 million over the three-day weekend with $1.7 million including Monday. The movie received generally decent reviews as well as an “A-” CinemaScore from audiences.

Also released into 842 theaters on Friday was “Sight and Sound Presents: Daniel Live,” a one-weekend-only theatrical release of the biblical musical, which ended up with $1.9 million over the three-day weekend and an estimated $2.4 million including Monday.

On top of that, Casey Affleck and Lawrence Fishburne starred in Mikael Hafstrom‘s outer space thriller “Slingshot,” which Bleecker Street released into 840 theaters with middling reviews. It ended up bringing in just $485k over the weekend with $572k including Monday, putting it well outside the top 10.

Two other releases are dragging their feet on releasing box office numbers for the weekend, although both opened in roughly the same number of theaters. Roadside Attractions released the immigrant drama “City of Dreams” into 774 theaters with a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the Little League drama “You Gotta Believe,” starring Luke Wilson and Greg Kinnear, received a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes and was released into 780 theaters. “City of Dreams” ended up making $1.3 million over the three-day weekend and $1.4 million including Monday, but we’re still waiting for numbers for the latter.

Although “Deadpool and Wolverine’ was number-one last weekend, a majority of players in this week’s box office prediction game still picked “Alien: Romulus” to win the weekend. 117 players had Sony’s “AfrAId” opening in the top five, which wasn’t to be, while ZERO players had “Twisters” returning to third place. 47 players had “It Ends with Us” dropping to fourth, and 20 players had “Reagan” opening in fifth place. While it’s good to remember that Gold Derby’s game only covers the three-day portion of the box office, actual box office for “Reagan” might end up pushing it ahead of Lively’s movie.

Only two players got perfect scores in the August 23 game, but “RichRo” came out ahead by playing his Super Bets wisely to amass 41,573 points.

On Friday, Tim Burton, Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder return for the legacy sequel, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” so come back on Wednesday for our weekend preview of how it might do.