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‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Top $600M; Disney Leads $1.5B Labor Day Box Office
SUNDAY AM: Refresh for chart and more numbers… This Labor Day weekend is traditionally slow regarding box office performances, but Disney has managed to lead summer 2024 box office earnings. Together with its 20th Century Studios label, Disney garnered $1.53 billion, thanks to popular franchises like Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine , alongside Fox’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Alien: Romulus.
Universal followed in second, including its Focus Features label, with $754.6 million primarily driven by Twisters and Despicable Me 4. While Fall Guy didn’t perform spectacularly, it still managed $92.9 million off a $27.7 million opening, showcasing a similar multiple to David Leitch’s Bullet Train.
Sony placed third, starting its summer success with Bad Boys: Ride or Die and It Ends With Us. In total, the studio accumulated $514 million across Sony Classics and Crunchyroll labels. Despite these successes, Afraid ($4.4M 4-day), Harold and the Purple Crayon ($17M), and Apple’s Fly Me to the Moon ($20.4M) were box office disappointments.
Paramount secured $250 million over the summer, mainly from A Quiet Place: Day One ($138.9 million) and If ($111.1 million). Skydance is preparing to acquire Paramount, but insiders suggest that the current administration shouldn’t change much, indicating contentment with the studio’s current direction.
SATURDAY AM: Disney/Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine is expected to cross $600 million by Labor Day, with four-day estimates ranging between $19M and $20M. Showbiz Direct’s Reagan has garnered favorable reception, with a current 4-day projection of $9 million after $2.6 million on Friday. The film has found its audience mostly in the middle of the country and the South, with ICON Cinema in Edmond, OK, leading with $10,000. Caucasian audiences accounted for 78%, while Latino and Hispanic audiences comprised 13%, and Black moviegoers made up just 1%.
Reagan , financed by producer Mark Joseph and Rawhide Entertainment, which handled its marketing, was largely a Showbiz Direct distribution deal. Promoted on platforms like Fox News and NASCAR events, the reach included appearances by Dennis Quaid on prominent right-wing shows.
Sony/Blumhouse’s Afraid is underperforming with $4 million in 3,003 locations. It’s higher than Blumhouse’s 2015 failure, Jem and the Holograms, but low nonetheless. Social media buzz around the film suggests negative conversations, focusing on critiques about its unoriginal storyline and artificial intelligence themes.
In a unique event, Sight & Sound’s original stage production Daniel was broadcasted live, grossing $538,000 last night, adding up to a $2.5 million 4-day total. Meanwhile, Roadside Attractions’ City of Dreams is expected to make $1.5 million over four days with good sales reports from major cities like NYC, LA, and Dallas.
Lionsgate Premiere Releasing’s crime thriller 1992 starring Ray Liotta has unfortunately fallen flat with an estimated $1.2 million for the four-day period at 875 sites.
The top films for the weekend are projected as follows:
1.) Deadpool & Wolverine : $19M-$20M 4-day, Total $603.3M-$604.3M
2.) Alien: Romulus : $11.75M 4-day, Total $91.1M
3.) It Ends With Us : $9.5M 4-day, Total $135.7M
4.) Reagan : $9M 4-day
5.) Twisters : $8.1M 4-day, Total $258.9M
6.) Blink Twice : $6.6M 4-day, Total $17.3M
7.) The Forge : $6.2M 4-day, Total $15.9M
8.) Despicable Me 4 : $5M 4-day, Total $355M
9.) Afraid : $4M 4-day
9.) Coraline : $4M 4-day, Total $30.2M
FRIDAY AM: Labor Day weekend is continuing the trend of summer 2024 being relatively slow. This year’s summer box office is projected to total around $3.6 billion per Comscore, almost a half-billion less than 2023’s $4.09 billion. One key reason is the absence of a major Marvel movie in May—like last summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 , which earned $359 million.
Sony made a strategic decision to move its R-rated Marvel movie Kraven the Hunter from the four-day holiday slot to December, expecting to capitalize on the year-end box office. Replacing it is the PG-13 Blumhouse horror, Afraid , projecting about $5 million for the four-day weekend.
In Afraid , Curtis (John Cho) and his family test a new home device, a digital assistant named AIA, which soon begins to take a more controlling role in their lives. Initially titled They Listen , the movie’s title was changed to emphasize its AI theme.
Disney/Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine aims to end the summer strong with $12M-$14M over the four-day holiday, not quite enough to hit the $600 million domestic mark but getting close. The movie is leveraging premium screens and sharing space with Alien: Romulus to maximize viewership. Inside Out 2 also returned to over 2,600 theaters, maintaining its position as the summer’s highest-grossing film at $647.2 million.
Other significant releases include Showbiz Direct’s biopic Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid, expected to draw crowds from Middle America, although projections remain in single digits for the four-day stretch. The film has a mixed reception, with a 98% audience score but only a 25% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bleecker Street’s psychological thriller Slingshot starring Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne is playing at 845 locations. Lionsgate’s 1992 , one of Ray Liotta’s final films, is showing at 800 locations. Roadside Attractions’ border crisis drama City of Dreams is playing at 774 theaters with a cast and crew that includes many notable names and a 75% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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