August kicked off with a mix of horror and humor dominating the box office. Zach Cregger’s much-anticipated horror film Weapons stormed to the top in its debut weekend, grossing $42.5 million domestically from 3,202 theaters and $70 million internationally. The hit marks Warner Bros. Pictures’ seventh No. 1 opening of the year and its sixth consecutive film to debut with over $40 million domestically.
Disney’s Freakier Friday, the chaotic sequel to the 2003 hit Freaky Friday, claimed the second spot with $29 million from 3,975 North American theaters. Returning stars Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis lead a double body-swap storyline, this time involving Lohan’s teenage daughter and soon-to-be stepdaughter.
Industry analysts credited both films’ success to viral marketing and social media buzz. “The top two films could not be more different, and that’s what makes this weekend so appealing for moviegoers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Both are perfectly tailored for their audiences to react in real time and share the experience online.”
Weapons takes audiences to the eerie small town of Maybrook, where 17 teenagers mysteriously leave their homes at exactly 2:17 a.m., sparking a wave of horror, paranoia, and dark humor. The film follows Cregger’s 2022 genre-bending debut Barbarian, which opened with a modest $10 million domestically but became a critical and commercial hit in the horror world.
