Labor Day weekend is never a big movie-going holiday, and this year is no exception, as most moviegoers celebrate the end of summer with other activities. Deadpool and Wolverine is the biggest title of the four-day weekend, as it holds the No. 1 spot in its sixth outing and surpasses $600 million in domestic box office, becoming only the 16th film in history to do so, not adjusted for inflation.
The only new entry to crack the top spot is the independent biopic Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid and based on the book by Paul Kengor. The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of CommunismThe film is in a tight race with the backup film The tornadoesnow playing in its seventh weekend, with both films aiming to gross between $8 million and $9 million over the four-day fest.
Receiving glowing reviews — it has a critic score of 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — Reagan was more successful with audiences, who gave the biopic an A CinemaScore. Box office analysts knew the film would be older, but hoped the attention surrounding the 2024 presidential election would broaden the audience, but that hasn't been the case. About 85 percent of ticket buyers are over the age of 35, including an unprecedented 66 percent over the age of 55, which sets Reagan poised to see promising success in premium VOD, a platform favored by older consumers.
Distributed by SBD, Reagan is doing best in the central part of the country, where white viewers make up about 80 percent of the audience.
Younger viewers could be the target audience for Blumhouse and Sony's new AI-themed horror film Fearbut they're also keeping well away from that film. The film is aiming for a ninth place finish with a four-day holiday gross of $4 million.
Back at the top of the charts, Marvel Studio and Disney Deadpool and Wolverine continues to play and play and is expected to gross as much as $20 million over the four-day weekend, bringing its domestic gross to an estimated $605 million through Sunday, the sixth-best total ever for a superhero film.
Now in its third weekend, 20th Century and Disney Alien: Romulus It remains in second place with an estimated four-day gross of between $10 and $11 million.
The performances of the two films, along with those of Pixar and Disney Inside Out 2has played a key role in reversing a dramatic box office decline from earlier this summer. Domestic box office revenue is forecast to total $3.6 billion, a 10 percent decline from summer 2023 (many feared the deficit would be much worse).
Sony had the biggest female hit of the summer with Wayfarer Studio's film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel It ends with usa novel about love, domestic violence and redemption. A social media storm over an alleged rift between star-director Justin Baldoni and star-producer Blake Lively (much of the criticism has been aimed at the actress) didn’t hurt the film, which opened at No. 3 on Labor Day with an estimated $9.5 million for the four days and brought its domestic total to $135.8 million through Sunday. Sony went out of its way to praise Lively and the other women behind the film, without mentioning Baldoni.
Amblin Show The tornadoes was another summer savior and is expected to end the holiday weekend with nearly $260 million in domestic ticket sales. Universal is distributing the film in North America, while Warner Bros. is handling overseas duties.
The numbers will be updated on Sunday morning.