Courtesy Universal Pictures Dreamworks, Lionsgate
Long Range Forecast — September 26, 2025
The Strangers: Chapter 2 | Lionsgate
Domestic Opening Weekend Range: $8M – $12M
The first part of the planned Strangers trilogy was a rare standout of Liongate’s 2024 slate, opening to $11.8M and topping out at $35.2M domestic. We expect consistent performance from the sequel, which has moved to September from Chapter 1′s early May release window. September is typically a solid month for horror releases, though this September there are only two other horror films coming to theaters in wide release: The Conjuring: Last Rites (9/5) and HIM (9/19). (The week between those two sees the release of the horror-adjacent The Long Walk, also from Lionsgate.)
One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.
Domestic Opening Weekend Range: $15M – $25M
Led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Regina Hall, this latest Paul Thomas Anderson film could be a late summer hit, with a run on PLF screens poised to boost box office. One Battle After Another is Anderson’s first theatrical release since 2021’s Licorice Pizza, which opened on four screens over Thanksgiving weekend before going wide over Christmas. That film earned $17.3M during its entire domestic run, a figure One Battle After Another has a chance to surpass on its opening weekend alone.
Expect opening weekend PLF tickets to move quickly, especially if a long runtime (typical of PTA films) limits the number of possible screenings. An opening weekend in the $15M – $25M range puts One Battle After Another in the neighborhood of 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon ($23.2M domestic opening, $68M domestic total), also an epic-length, DiCaprio-starring ensemble by a big-name director; also in that category is 2019’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood ($41M domestic opening, $142.5M domestic total).
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie | Universal
Domestic Opening Weekend Range: $15M – $25M
A spinoff of the hit Netfix series, this family-focused live action/animated opens with very little competition in the market. Aside from fellow Netflix title KPop Demon Hunters, which brought some much-needed energy to the box office with a two-day engagement last weekend, on the whole late summer/early fall 2025 has been absent any real animated heavyweight, with The Bad Guys 2 ($21.9M domestic opening) and Sketch ($2.4M) the only family-targeted titles to open wide since the beginning of August. Animated titles to open on the last weekend of September over the last decade are 2015’s Hotel Transylvania 2 ($48.4M), 2018’s Smallfoot ($23M), 2019’s Abominable ($20.6M), 2023’s PAW Patrol: The Movie ($22.7M), and 2024’s The Wild Robot ($35.7M).
Tracking Updates [as of August 29]
Release DateTitlePredicted Opening RangeDistributor8/29The Toxic Avenger$1M – $3MCineverse8/29Caught Stealing$8M – $12MSony8/29The Roses$3M – $5MSearchlight Pictures9/5The Conjuring: Last Rites$40M – $55MWarner Bros.9/5Hamilton$3M – $5MDisney9/12The Long Walk$10M – $15MLionsgate9/12Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale$18M – $25MFocus Features / Universal9/12Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Infinity Castle$40M – $50MCrunchyroll / Sony9/12Spinal Tap II: The End Continues$4M – $6MBleecker Street9/19A Big Bold Beautiful Journey$10M – $15MSony9/19HIM$15M – $25MUniversal9/19The Senior$2M – $4MAngel Studios
Courtesy Universal Pictures Dreamworks, Lionsgate