North American Box Office Plummets Nearly 50% This Weekend

UPDATE: The North American box office faced a significant downturn this weekend, reporting a nearly 50% drop in overall ticket sales. Following two successful weekends, the latest releases, including the highly anticipated horror film “Him” and the romantic drama featuring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, failed to sustain the momentum.

The weekend of September 30, 2023, saw Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle retain the top position, bringing in an impressive $17.3 million, pushing its total to $104.7 million. This makes it the highest-grossing anime film in North America, according to estimates from studio sources.

In stark contrast, the football horror film “Him” debuted in second place with an estimated $13.5 million. Released by Universal Pictures across 3,168 theaters, the film attracted an audience that was 52% male and 65% over the age of 25. Internationally, it garnered just $400,000. Despite its intriguing premise, “Him” struggled critically, earning a dismal 29% on Rotten Tomatoes and a C- CinemaScore from audiences.

Film critic Jake Coyle from The Associated Press noted, “The film was made with the potent premise of bringing the kind of dark, satirical perspective that characterizes a Monkeypaw production to our violent national pastime. But that promise gets fumbled in an allegorical chamber play that grows increasingly tedious.”

Meanwhile, “The Conjuring: Last Rights” continued to perform well, making an estimated $13 million in its third weekend, bringing its global total to $400 million, marking it as the biggest film within the Conjuring universe.

Sony Pictures also released “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” featuring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, but it underperformed, earning only $3.5 million from 3,300 locations and receiving largely negative reviews with a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In its second weekend, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” added another $6.3 million, bringing its total to $31.6 million. The Stephen King adaptation “The Long Walk” also estimated $6.3 million in its second weekend, exceeding its production budget of $20 million.

For movie lovers, the excitement is far from over. Next weekend, acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson will release “One Battle After Another,” alongside a special event at AMC Theaters for the release of Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” This 90-minute show will play in all 540 AMC theaters in the U.S. from October 3 to October 5.

As the box office landscape shifts dramatically, film enthusiasts are eager to see how upcoming releases will fare against this weekend’s disappointing results. The industry remains on alert for the next big hit that might reverse this trend.