Labor Day weekend is never a big holiday for moviegoing, as most people mark the end of summer with other activities, and this year is no exception. Deadpool & Wolverine is the biggest headline of the four-day weekend as it stays No. 1 in its sixth outing and crosses $600 million domestically, becoming only the 16th film in history to do so, not adjusted for inflation.
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The only newcomer landing in the upper reaches of the chart is the indie biopic Reagan , starring Dennis Quaid and based on Paul Kengor’s book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism . After a better-than-expected Sunday, the film has found itself in a three-way contest with Twisters and It End With Us for either third or four place. The order won’t be determined until final grosses for the four-day holiday weekend are issued Monday.
Distributor SBD is estimating a four-day opening of $10.07 million, which puts it ahead of Twisters ‘ estimated holiday gross of $9.56 million and It Ends With Us ‘ estimated $9.5 million. Rival studios, however, show Reagan coming in lower.
Receiving blistering reviews — its critics score is 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — Reagan fared better with audiences, who gave the biopic an A CinemaScore. Box office analysts knew the film would play older but hoped the attention surrounding the 2024 presidential election would broaden the audience, with no such luck. Roughly 85 percent of ticket buyers are over the age of 35 — including an unheard of 66 percent over the age of 55, setting Reagan up for a promising run on premium VOD, a preferred platform for older consumers.
Distributed by SBD, Reagan is faring best in the middle of the country, with white moviegoers making up nearly 80 percent of the audience.
Younger moviegoers may be the target audience for Blumhouse and Sony’s new AI-themed horror film Afraid , but they are largely staying away from that film as well. The pic is looking at a ninth-place finish with a four-day holiday gross of $4.4 million after receiving a C+ CinemaScore.
Back at the the top of the chart, Marvel Studios and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine keeps playing and playing, and grossed an estimated $19.4 million, putting its domestic tally at an estimated $603.8 million through Sunday, the sixth-best showing ever for a superhero movie. Overseas, it raked in another $29.2 for a global tally north of $1.258 billion through Monday.
Disney also laid claim to the No. 2 film, 20th Century’s Alien: Romulus , which is estimating a four-day gross of $11.2 million for a domestic total of $90.6 million. Globally, its cume is an estimated $293.5 million, the second-best showing of the franchise, not adjusted for inflation.
The performance of the two films, along with Pixar and Disney’s Inside Out 2 , played a key role in reversing a dramatic downturn at the early summer box office. Domestic box office revenue is an estimated $3.66 billion, according to Comscore. That’s a dip of 10.6 percent; many had worried the deficit would be far worse.
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Sony has had the biggest female-fueled hit of the summer with Wayfarer Studio’s film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us , a novel about love, domestic violence and redemption. A social media storm over a reported rift between director-star Justin Baldoni and star-producer Blake Lively — much of the criticism has been aimed at the actress — hasn’t hurt the film, which has earned an estimated $135.8 million through Monday. Sony has gone out of its way to praise Lively and the other women behind the film, without any mention of Baldoni.
Overseas, It Ends With Us has taken in an impressive $150 million for a worldwide haul of $283.7 million.
Amblin Entertainment’s Twisters has been another summer savior and should finish the holiday weekend with an estimated $260.4 million in domestic ticket sales. Universal is handling the film in North America, while Warner Bros. has overseas duties.
The Forge (Sony/Affirm) and Blink Twice (Amazon MGM) are in a close race for No. 6 in their second weekends. The Forge is estimating a four-day gross of $6.3 million for a 10-day domestic tally of $16 million. Blink Twice , from Zoë Kravitz in her feature directorial debut and starring Channing Tatum, is estimating a four-day gross of $6.1 million for a tepid domestic total of $16.8 million following a disappointing opening.
Labor Day estimates will be updated Tuesday morning, when the official order of films will be revealed.
Sept. 1, 8 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
Sept. 2, 9:30 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published Aug. 31 at 10:35 a.m .
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