It’s hard to bet against a sequel to the old movie at this point. At least those of the multi-quadrant variety that has been passed down through the generations of video and cable and beyond. Just look at Jurassic World, Top Shooter: Maverickand the Twisters. That’s 14, 36 and 28 years between the two chapters, respectively, with the first two being among the 10 highest-grossing domestic releases of all time. Now comes another that took 36 years to produce, and those who underestimated its potential now see it sandwiched between another underworld clown as part of the biggest September premieres of all time.

King of the Harvest: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Achieves the second highest September opening success of all time

Tim Burton’s greatest successes were always associated with fame. Alice in Wonderland (116.1 million US dollars), Planet of the Apes (68.5 million US dollars), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (56.1 million US dollars), Dumbo (45.9 million dollars) and of course his Batman Films that would have debuted today with inflation in the range of 101-103 million dollars. Now Burton is bringing another nine-figure film in 2024 with Beetlejuice Beetlejuicewhich grossed $110 million at the box office over the weekend. The original 1988 film had only grossed $8 million, but went on to gross more than nine times its opening, topping out at $73 million. What a difference a few decades make. This film probably won’t pull that trick again, but let’s see where it might end up at the end of its run.

As already mentioned, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice now has the second highest opening rate of all time in September, behind Stephen King’s It (123.4 million US dollars) and It: Chapter 2 (91.0 million dollars). These two films and Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings are the only films to open this month that gross over $200 million. The first It received over $327 million. It remains to be seen whether word of mouth is good enough for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to rise so high, but it would be shocking if it didn’t get through Shang Chi’s 224 million dollars. Hell, no October film has ever made over 100 million dollars, and only joker, GravityAnd The Martian was higher than 224 million dollars. Dumbo is the only film in Burton’s career that didn’t make at least 2.5 times its opening, and even that was only 2.495. So Warner Bros. can be pretty sure they’re looking at a $250 million-plus winner on the domestic side. It’s the eighth $100 million budget of Burton’s career. Add in another $34.5 million on the international side, and this film should be right up there with the best. Alice in Wonderland And Batman one of the biggest hits of his career.

The top 10 and beyond: Deadpool and Wolverine Falls back to second place, Reagan Retains third place

Finishes second for the second time in seven weeks Deadpool and Wolverine. Almost all August leftovers suffered a major drop over the weekend, and this one was no exception, falling 54% to $7.2 million. That brings the total to $614 million, which is almost officially behind the curve of Inside Out 2which grossed $613.7 million after earning $8.6 million in its seventh weekend. So while it may not be the biggest movie of 2024, the numbers are still nothing to sneeze at. It will likely be at least the 12th highest-grossing film of all time domestically, the fifth highest-grossing MCU film, and already one of the 25 highest-grossing films worldwide. Not bad.

That’s not what critics say about Sean McNamaras Reagan with a 20% rating, but the film managed to finish third this week with $5.2 million, bringing in $18.5 million in the last ten days. While it still doesn’t cover its $25 million budget, it’s $18.5 million more than it made sitting on the shelf for three years waiting to be distributed.

Fourth place goes to Alien: Romulus with $4 million, which also fell 54% this week and totaled $97.2 million. This weekend is more like The Mummy – Tomb of the Dragon Emperor as The Bourne Legacytherefore we have to lower the estimates from $110-115 million to $105-110 million. Nevertheless, the film grossed over $314 million worldwide and is a huge success for 20th Century Studios/Disney.

Speaking of solid hits, It ends with us is one of the most profitable films of the year, and it added to that this weekend with $3.7 million. That brings its domestic total to $141.3 million and it remains on track to reach $150 million. It has already grossed over $309 million worldwide. Twisters drops to seventh place with $2.2 million, for a domestic total of $264.6 million and a worldwide total of over $367 million.

The Forge comes in sixth place with $2.9 million, for a tidy total of $20.7 million. Not bad for a $5 million budget. Flash twice came in at number 8 with 2.1 million dollars and reached a total of over 20 million dollars. The Tamil action film The greatest of all time came in ninth, also with $2.1 million and a total of $3.6 million since Wednesday. A24 would have liked to see such earnings for The front roomInstead, the horror film directed by Brandy Norwood only grossed $1.6 million in 2,095 theaters. It didn’t even make it into the top 10, The front room represents the weakest start for an A24 release in over 2,000 theaters and is below Ti West’s pearl ($3.12 million) and Alex Garland’s Men (US$3.29 million).

Finally back to the hit time on the cartoon front, Despicable Me 4 remained in the top 10 with $1.8 million. Worldwide, it is now over $929 million. Then Inside Out 2 officially adopted Jurassic World With 1.672 billion US dollars, it was the eighth largest revenue of all time.

On the vine: Speak no evil Hopes to delight the audience

Blumhouse is trying to make a small comeback after the disappointing Worried last week. The remake of the recent Danish (albeit in English) horror film Speak no evilwith James McAvoy and Stop and catch fire Co-stars Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis, hopes to lead the new releases next weekend as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice lands at number 1 for a second week. Lionsgate hopes not to have another bad performance with Dave Bautista and the assassination attempt of The murderer’s game. They are showing this film for critics, so that is already a step forward The Crow And Borderlandtwo of the biggest flops of the summer.

Full list of box office results: September 6-8, 2024

1. 
   
   76%
   

   Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
   (2024)
   –

   $110 million (total $110 million)

2. 
   
   79%
   

   Deadpool and Wolverine
   (2024)
   – $7.2 million (total $614 million)
   

3. 
   
   20%
   

   Reagan
   (2024)
   – $5.2 million (total $18.5 million)
   

4. 
   
   80%
   

   Alien: Romulus
   (2024)
   – $3.9 million (total $97.2 million)
   

5. 
   
   57%
   

   It ends with us
   (2024)
   – $3.7 million (total $141.3 million)
   

6. 
   
   70%
   

   The Forge
   (2024)
   – $2.9 million (total $20.7 million)
   

7. 
   
   75%
   

   Twisters
   (2024)
   – $2.25 million (total $264.6 million)
   

8. 
   
   74%
   

   Flash twice
   (2024)
   – $2.1 million (total $20.2 million)
   

9. 
   
   – –
   

   The greatest of all time
   (2024)
   – $2.1 million (total $2.1 million)
   

10. 
    
    56%
    

    Despicable Me 4
    (2024)
    – $1.8 million (total $357.8 million)
    

Erik Childress can be heard every week on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness podcast analyzing the box office.

(Box office figures via Box Office Mojo)

Thumbnail by Parisa Taghizadeh/©Warner Bros.

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