{"id":104757,"date":"2025-08-23T17:42:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T17:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/104757\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:42:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T17:42:07","slug":"kpop-demon-hunters-could-beat-weapons-for-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/104757\/","title":{"rendered":"‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Could Beat ‘Weapons’ for No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cWeapons<\/a>\u201d had no trouble retaining its top spot at the box office on Friday, but there\u2019s another release still chasing after it. With movie theaters getting quiet as the summer season winds down, Netflix\u2019s animated streaming smash \u201cKPop Demon Hunters<\/a>\u201d may actually end up winning the weekend, with a two-day release of a sing-along version. It\u2019d be quite the turn of events for Netflix, which has consistently opted out of playing in movie theaters, to the point of the company\u2019s CEO calling them \u201coutdated\u201d<\/a> back in April.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d has already been on Netflix for over two months. It\u2019s still climbing the streamer\u2019s all-time charts, now ranking as the second most-watched film ever on the platform. But despite being readily available for home viewing, there\u2019s clearly an appetite among fans to watch the film in theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe animated musical, which was produced by Sony Pictures Animation before being sold to Netflix, is bowing in more than 1,700 locations on Saturday and Sunday. That\u2019s many more venues than the last time Netflix went beyond an awards-qualifying theatrical run with \u201cGlass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,\u201d which played about 600 locations, albeit over the longer five-day window of the 2022 Thanksgiving holiday. Netflix did not report box office grosses then and it\u2019d be a remarkable change if they decided to now, even though the company would be turning down bragging rights for No. 1.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, \u201cWeapons\u201d still has a head start on the weekend with $4.7 million on Friday, down just 37% from its daily total a week ago. It\u2019s the start of another strong hold for the buzzy horror film, which only dropped 43% in its second weekend. Writer-director Zach Cregger\u2019s R-rated original has now crossed $105 million in North America, now ranking as the market\u2019s 13th-biggest release of the calendar year.<\/p>\n

\n\tOpening this weekend, \u201cHoney Don\u2019t!\u201d is in 1,417 theaters from Universal\u2019s specialty label Focus Features after scoring lukewarm reviews out of its Cannes premiere back in May. The lesbian noir earned $1.4 million across Friday and preview screenings, looking to open outside the top five with a $3.2 million bow. That\u2019d still be a stronger start than married co-writers Tricia Cooke and Ethan Coen\u2019s last caper for Focus, \u201cDrive-Away Dolls,\u201d which also starred Margaret Qualley and debuted to a scant $2.4 million in 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\tThird place looks to go to Disney\u2019s \u201cFreakier Friday.\u201d The PG-rated comedy sequel added another $2.8 million on Friday, down 38% from its daily total a week ago. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan\u2019s reunion looks to hit about $70 million through the end of its third weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney also has fourth with \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps,\u201d which brought in another $1.6 million on Friday for a 36% drop from its daily total last week. The Marvel Studios production is now at a $252 million domestic total. <\/p>\n

\n\tUniversal\u2019s \u201cThe Bad Guys 2\u201d is looking at fifth, projecting $5.1 million in its fourth weekend, which would be another good hold at a 32% fall. Domestic gross on the DreamWorks Animation sequel looks to hit $66 million domestic through Sunday. The 2022 original also hit $66 million through the same time frame, on its way to finishing at $97 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tHolding less well for Universal is \u201cNobody 2,\u201d looking to fall to sixth. The Bob Odenkirk-led actioner is projecting $3.5 million in its sophomore outing for a 62% fall from its opening. The R-rated sequel should hit $16.3 million domestic through its second Sunday. Its franchise predecessor, which released in early 2021 in a severely COVID-hobbled market, earned $11.8 million within the same window.<\/p>\n

\n\tDebuting outside the top 10, Bleecker Street has David Mackenzie\u2019s \u201cRelay\u201d in 1,483 locations. The Riz Ahmed and Lily James thriller, which debuted to positive reviews out of last year\u2019s Toronto Film Festival premiere, is hoping to get past $2 million in its debut. Meanwhile, Vertical also has a leftover feature from last year\u2019s Toronto, with Ron Howard\u2019s \u201cEden\u201d bowing in 664 venues. The desert island thriller, with a starry cast that includes Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney and Ana de Armas, landed mediocre reviews and is opening outside the top 10.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the same weekend as the \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d bow, A24 also went fishing on a months-old animated film, opening a re-release of the Chinese feature \u201cNe Zha II\u201d in 2,228 locations. The mythological epic first bowed in North America way back in February and finished with $20 million stateside. A24 came aboard for this re-release, adding a new English dub headlined by Michelle Yeoh. The effort didn\u2019t translate to a breakout, with about $690,000 in grosses on Friday. Those are slim numbers, but it\u2019s a drop in the bucket for \u201cNe Zha II,\u201d far and away the biggest movie of the year globally. It has earned more than $2 billion worldwide, the vast majority of that gross coming from its native country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWeapons\u201d had no trouble retaining its top spot at the box office on Friday, but there\u2019s another release…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,63742,2696,3439],"class_list":["post-104757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-honey-dont","tag-kpop-demon-hunters","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}