So much history to end what was expected to be a bit of a ho-hum month. For starters, it’s the second September in a row to hit half a billion, which is at the levels of the previous decade pre-pandemic. We have the first collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Paul Thomas Anderson. Warner Bros. is celebrating its fourth straight September with the highest-grossing film of the month, a victory they have held for nine of the past 10 years. And while one streak may have been broken, the studio is still continuing another one that has only been achieved four other times in history.
King of the Crop: One Battle After Another Conquers the Weekend
Despite some misreporting and others nitpicking the difference of seven straight films to open over $40 million across calendar lines instead of in a single year, Warner Bros. has been riding a wave it hoped to continue with the new film from Paul Thomas Anderson. The critically lauded, 11-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker with four 90%+ films and never one lower than 73% (Inherent Vice) to date has only ever had one of his films even reach $40 million in its entire theatrical run. That was 2007’s There Will Be Blood with $40.2 million.
Leonardo DiCaprio, on the other hand, who too often is left out of the conversation when it comes to the last of the true movie stars, has had four of his films (Inception, The Great Gatsby, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, Shutter Island) open to over $40 million. Throw in The Revenant for good measure, which opened to $39.8 million in its first week of wide release after two weeks of a limited release in four theaters making $1.3 million. Nine starring roles led to $100+ million grossers. Throw in his notable headlining supporting turn in Django Unchained for an even 10 if you wish.
Anderson’s previous nine films have grossed a total of just over $170 million. The reported budget for One Battle After Another is anywhere from $130 million (officially from Warner Bros.) to as much as $175 million from trade reports. That’s a small price to pay to get a star headliner, some of the best reviews of the year (currently Certified Fresh at 96%) and a lot of talk of this being the film to beat for Best Picture. As for the numbers this weekend, Warner Bros. may not have extended their $40 million opening week streak to officially own the record, but $22.4 million (and $48.5 million globally) for a 160+ minute Paul Thomas Anderson film must still feel good on some level for cinephiles.
Could this turn into the word-of-mouth success that we have seen for Warner Bros. this year with Sinners and Weapons? PTA has only been Cinemascored three times in his career, and regrettably they were a C (Boogie Nights), C- (Magnolia), and D+ (Punch-Drunk Love). Maybe it’s not such a great system. Maybe they polled the wrong audiences. Maybe just listen to the critics.
But One Battle After Another came out blazing with a full-on A (as Sinners did). There have only been three A+s this year, with The King of Kings, Bob Trevino Likes It, and this week’s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie (believe it or not). But the As from January through August have averaged a 3.17 multiple over their opening weekend. Sinners is the only R-rated film among them, and it also has the highest multiple with 5.80, the best for a wide release in 2025. FYI, the only Leonardo DiCaprio film to be graded higher than One Battle After Another is Titanic with an A+.
The streak of $40 million openers may have been broken, but to further appreciate just how monumental that was for a single studio to accomplish (actually two studios, as Disney also had a seven-film streak from 2017-18), we can look at a streak that Warner Bros. has continued that is also exceptionally rare: eight films in a row opening to over $20 million. Box office pundits get excited when that number is reached in consecutive weeks in the Fall and Winter months, but this is how often consecutive new releases have achieved that over time with studios.
18 – Disney 2017-19 (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to Dumbo)
13 – Paramount 2023-24 (Scream VI to Gladiator II)
9 – Warner Bros. 2023 (Shazam! Fury of the Gods to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom)
8 – Warner Bros. 2025 (A Minecraft Movie to One Battle After Another to TBD)
8 – Fox 2014 (Son of God to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)
7 – Warner Bros. 2013 (42 to We’re the Millers)
7 – Paramount 2010 (How To Train Your Dragon to Megamind)
7 – Paramount 2011 (Justin Bieber: Never Say Never to Captain America: The First Avenger)
7 – Sony 2010 (The Karate Kid to Resident Evil: Afterlife)
7 – Universal 2015 (Pitch Perfect 2 to The Visit)
6 – Fox 2004 (Man On Fire to Alien Vs. Predator)
6 – Warner Bros. 2018 (The Meg to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald)
That makes 21 of Warner Bros.’ last 31 releases to open over $20 million, for those keeping count. They may have just tied their streak, but moving Mortal Kombat II back to May left a big hole in their schedule until February, and we can’t be sure that Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is the answer to keep it going. By then, though, the focus will have shifted primarily away from WB’s current box office prowess to how many Oscars Paul Thomas Anderson and his film may be pulling in.
Tales of the top 10: Gabby’s Dollhouse Comes in Second, Demon Slayer Rises to No. 8 Worldwide
Netflix’s interactive animated/live-action hybrid now gets the big screen treatment in Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, except it was released by Universal in theaters who also happen to report box office numbers. This weekend they reported $13.7 million in grosses for the big screen effort. Over the years we have seen theatrical incarnations from female-led family shows such as Hannah Montana: The Movie ($32.3 million opening), Dora and the Lost City of Gold ($17.4 million), and The Lizzie McGuire Movie ($17.3 million). Gabby is closer to them than the likes of Josie and the Pussycats ($4.5 million), The Powerpuff Girls Movie ($3.5 million), or Jem and the Holograms ($1.3 million). Lizzie McGuire grossed over $42 million, Dora made it over $60 million, and Hannah nearly reached $80 million. Any of those numbers would make this a decent success for Universal. The film is over $19 million globally.
A week after becoming the first animated film of 2025 to reach $100 million domestic, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle continues to add to its total with $7.1 million in its third weekend. That brings its domestic total to over $118 million — just $10 million behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to become the highest-grossing international film ever in the US — with a running global total of now over $605 million, which puts it at No. 8 on the list of 2025’s highest-grossing films worldwide. Ne Zha 2 made headlines this year for grossing $1.86 billion alone in China. Infinity Castle will join that and a select group of films that grossed under $150 million on the domestic side and crossed $600 million globally. They include Life of Pi, Transformers: The Last Knight, Mamma Mia!, and Fast X.
There may be four horror films in the top 10 this week, but The Conjuring: Last Rites is by far the most successful of them and is turning into one of the most successful films of the year. Another $6.8 million this weekend brings its domestic total to $161.4 million. Globally, however, it has just passed Captain America: Brave New World — one universe besting another with over $435 million and eyes on reaching half a billion. There have only been four horror films in history (not factoring inflation) that ever reached those heights: It, The Sixth Sense, World War Z, and The Meg. Last Rites is currently in sixth behind It: Chapter 2 ($473 million), making a top five finish very possible. (The Exorcist’s domestic totals in 1973 would amount to roughly $1.4 billion alone.)
Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers (50% on the Tomatometer) opened to $20.9 million in May 2008. The 2018 sequel (40% TM) began with $10.4 million and grossed less than half of the original’s $52.5 million. The first chapter of Renny Harlin’s remake/reboot/trilogy began with $11.8 million last year and finished with $35.2 million. Interest appears to be waning again, though, as The Strangers: Chapter 2 (17% TM) started with just half that at $5.9 million. Horror is certainly all around us these days, as the genre accounts for almost half of the top 10 this week. But not all of it has been embraced by audiences, as this film joins Wolf Man, The Woman in the Yard, Hurry Up Tomorrow, and last week’s Him with a C- Cinemascore, the lowest of 2025. Every one of the Strangers films has cost less than $10 million, so all of them, even 2018’s Prey at Night, was a success; $8.5 million is the reported budget on this one. Globally the film has already made $15 million and Lionsgate still has one more Harlin chapter left for audiences.
Less successful in the horror realm is last week’s release of Him, which fell 71% down to $3.6 million from its already disappointing $13.5 million start. Thefilm cost $27 million and has made $20.7 million to date, with a smidge more from overseas. Last week, we said $34-38 million was likely a best-case scenario, but now it won’t even clear $30 million, maybe barely 25. Lionsgate’s The Long Walk has held a little better in its third week with $3.4 million. That brings its total to $28.8 million domestic. The $20 million production is over $32 million worldwide. Osgood Perkins’ adaptation of Stephen King’s The Monkey grossed nearly $69 million worldwide. Just under $40 million of that was made here at home. Neon’s release of Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of The Life of Chuck has grossed just $6.7 million and $17.7 million worldwide. It is getting a one-night re-release this Wednesday, the day after it debuts on physical media.
The first Downton Abbey film will continue to have a special place in the heart of Focus Features as its highest-domestic grosser. But it was so successful that the two sequels it spawned will fail to match the totals of the original. Another $3.3 million in the third week for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale brings its total to just over $39 million domestic. None of the Downton Abbey films reached $100 million overseas, and it appears neither of the sequels will accomplish that number on a global scale. The $50 million production has made just $77 million, and along with Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag this year, it will go down among some of the biggest flops related to budget released by the studio.
The Indian gangster film They Call Him OG actually outgrossed One Battle After Another on Thursday with $3.7 million. Over the weekend it made another $1.4 million for a total of $5 million. Rounding out the top 10 is Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, which has been a major disappointment both with critics and the box office. Falling 62% from last week, it grossed $1.2 million to bring the total for the $45 million production to just $5.9 million domestic.
Outside of the top 10, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great with June Squibb, grossed $935,000 in 892 theaters. Compare that to Brian Kirk’s thriller, Dead of Winter with Emma Thompson, which made $1.05 million in 605 theaters. And lastly, Fathom Events played the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films over the weekend, one per day, and they grossed a collective $2.25 million, about half of that earned by the superior second film.
On the Vine: Dwayne Johnson Goes Head-to-Head with Taylor Swift
For the second time in three years, Taylor Swift will kick off October, this time with a special event to promote the release of her new album. Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl sold $15 million in tickets its first day of pre-sales, so who knows how high its No. 1 perch will be next week. A24 and Dwayne Johnson likely had designs on being at the top of the sales next week, but The Smashing Machine and its UFC subject will take a backseat to the biggest music star in the world. Daniel Day-Lewis returns to film for the first time since Phantom Thread, starring in his son Ronan’s feature directorial debut, Anemone. Also opening is one of last year’s Fantastic Fest premieres, Bone Lake, with more double-booking horror. The genre also gets its own watchdog as terror is viewed through the eyes of a Good Boy, while Justin Long and Kate Bosworth have their own problems with Coyotes.
Full List of Box Office Results: September 26-28, 2025
- One Battle After Another – $22.4 million ($22.4 million total)
- Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie – $13.7 million ($13.7 million total)
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle – $7.1 million ($118.1 million total)
- The Conjuring: Last Rites – $6.8 million ($161.4 million total)
- The Strangers: Chapter 2 – $5.9 million ($5.9 million total)
- Him – $3.6 million ($20.7 million total)
- The Long Walk – $3.4 million ($28.8 million total)
- Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – $3.3 million ($39.0 million total)
- They Call Him OG – $1.4 million ($5.0 million total)
- A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – $1.2 million ($5.9 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
Thumbnail image by ©Koyoharu Gotouge/Sony Pictures Releasing
