Horror had a shot to “officially” take the top spot at the box office for the sixth time in seven weeks. However, critics were not enthusiastic about the big new releases, especially the one that seemed set up to win the big game this weekend. The film that did win it, though, made news on two different fronts, one specific to this year’s animated offerings and the other in the historic drop category.
King of the Crop: Demon Slayer Becomes Highest-Grossing Japanese Film of All Time
Anime releases have a history of major drop-offs in their second weekends. Apart from Solo Leveling: ReAwakening, Crunchyroll did not have a release in 2024 that fell less than 76.7% and that is because that film did not have a second weekend. Those sophomore weekends dropped as high as 86.1%, and these were films that opened no higher than $11.5 million. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle began with a record-breaking $70 million last week, and this week it fell 75.5% to $17.3 million. We reported last week on the worst second-week drops for films that opened to over $80 million; Infinity Castle came $10 million short of that threshold, but in terms of percentage, it would rank second on that list. In fact, it is the second-biggest drop ever for a film opening over $47 million. The Marvels opened to $46.1 million and fell 78.1% in weekend two. Five Nights At Freddy’s fell 76.2% but was also streaming on Peacock at the time, which makes Infinity Castle the biggest drop ever for an exclusive theatrical release with those dollar figures.
But the bigger news is that this was the first animated film of 2025 to cross the $100 million mark. Not Pixar. Not Universal. Not even animated Jesus. It took all of 2021 during the pandemic for an animated film to be released (Sing 2) that would ultimately go into 2022 to reach $100 million. Pandemic years aside, you have to go back to 2003 to find a calendar year when there was no animated film to reach $100 million at all. But every year in between, at least one had grossed as much by Sept. 21. Globally the film is over $555 million, making it not only the highest-grossing anime film of all time, but also the highest-grossing Japanese film, period.
Rotten Returns: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey Doesn’t Go Very Far
After a pair of critically-acclaimed indie films in Columbus (96%) and After Yang (89%), director Kogonada has A Big Bold Beautiful Journey with Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell released into more theaters this weekend than those combined. Columbus was in never more than 61 theaters and After Yang had a brief release into 24. That is a generous reading for the $45 million production this weekend that grossed just $3.5 million domestic and another $4.5 million overseas. Reviews have not been up to the Columbus and After Yang standards with just a 37% from critics. Though it is not the worst-reviewed new release of the week. Following up on last week’s Rotten Returns, Bleecker Street’s release of Spinal Tap II fell 77% in its second week down to $372,000. It has grossed just $2.5 million.
Tales of the top 10: Him Fumbles Debut, The Conjuring Passes $400 Million Worldwide
Apart from his directorial efforts, Jordan Peele has been a producer on Keanu, Candyman, Monkey Man, and the Oscar-winning BlacKkKlansman. His latest credit comes on the football horror film, HIM, directed by Justin Tipping, and it left many critics stupefied. It opened to $13.5 million and could not even beat a film that dropped 77% despite tracking suggesting it should have had enough juice to take the No. 1 spot this weekend. Negative reviews could have factored into that, as critics made it one of the worst-reviewed films to open in over 3,000 theaters this year. That list includes Love Hurts (19% on the Tomatometer), Smurfs (21%), Flight Risk (27%), and now HIM (currently at 28%), but those first three still managed to gross between 2.57-2.81 times their opening weekend. HIM will need a little more than a $34-38 million finish to cover its $27 million budget, though an under-$30 million finish is not out of the cards, considering its debut. Internationally it has added another $8 million.
After a historic drop last week for a film opening to over $80 million, The Conjuring: Last Rites is down to third place with $13 million in its third weekend. That brings its 17-day total to $151.2 million, which is just ahead of David Gordon Green’s 2018 Halloween reboot, which had $150.2 million after a $10.8 million third. That film made less than $10 million from that point on. Unless Last Rites suffers that kind of a historic drop, it is still likely headed between $170-180 million to become one of the top 10 grossers of all time in the horror genre. It has also passed $400 million worldwide.
Francis Lawrence’s adaptation of Stephen “Richard Bachman” King’s The Long Walk remained in fourth with $6.3 million. Grossing $22.7 million after 10 days is close to the numbers for Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, which had a $6.6 million second go for a total of $22.1 million in the bank. The Long Walk could be looking at a finish around the $35 million region. If the $20 million production gets a little help on the international side, Lionsgate could still see this in the win column.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale finished its second weekend in fifth place, falling 65% down to $6.3 million. That brings its 10-day total to $31.6 million, better than A New Era’s $28.3 million but nowhere close to the first film’s $58.3 million. These are more like Riddick numbers. That film had a $6.8 million second weekend and a $31.1 million 10-day haul. It finished with just $42 million, so we are going to put The Grand Finale in the range of $40-45 million when it leaves theaters and the manor behind for good. A New Era finished with $44.1 million after having a $5.7 million second weekend. Globally the film is at $59.5 million.
The latest from Angel Studios and director Rod Lurie is The Senior, starring Michael Chiklis as a 59-year-old who gets a chance to go back and play college football. This is not a sequel to Necessary Roughness, which opened to $6.5 million and grossed over $26 million back in September of 1991. No, this a true story, and it began with $2.7 million, only slightly better than the studio’s $2.4 million debut of the great family film Sketch last month (which also had a Wednesday head start), but not as good as The Last Rodeo‘s $5.4 million back in May or especially The King of Kings‘ $19.3 million at Easter time. Rod Lurie’s best openings include The Last Castle ($7.0 million), The Contender ($5.3 million), and his 2011 remake of Straw Dogs ($5.1 million).
It has been one heck of a run for Zach Cregger’s Weapons. After another $1.2 million this weekend, it is poised to crack $150 million in the next day or so. With competition in the horror genre the past couple of weeks, its fall-offs look to keep it from reaching $160 million. But with over $260 million grossed worldwide, it is one of the most successful films of the summer and will be available on physical media before Halloween. Not bad for a couple months in theaters.
Disney is getting one final week in the top 10 with a couple of films. Their 30th Anniversary re-release of Toy Story finished eighth, adding $1.4 million to bring its total up to $5.8 million. Rounding out in 10th place is Freakier Friday with $1.1 million. The bad news is it is now looking it may indeed come up shy of the $100 million milestone, but with $92.8 million domestic and $150 million worldwide, it’s a clear winner.
On the Vine: Leonardo DiCaprio Fights One Battle After Another
Warner Bros. is going for a record next week, and to potentially do it with a Paul Thomas Anderson film would make it all the more special. PTA has Leonardo DiCaprio for some support, but the reviews for One Battle After Another are through the roof. All things combined could make for a very special weekend. Meanwhile, horror will get another case of the home invaders with Renny Harlin’s The Strangers: Chapter 2 from Lionsgate, and Universal offers Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie for families.
Full List of Box Office Results: September 19-21, 2025
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle – $17.3 million ($104.7 million total)
Him – $13.5 million ($13.5 million total)
The Conjuring: Last Rites – $13.0 million ($151.2 million total)
The Long Walk – $6.3 million ($22.7 million total)
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – $6.3 million ($31.6 million total)
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – $3.5 million ($3.5 million total)
The Senior – $2.7 million ($2.7 million total)
Toy Story (re-release) – $1.4 million ($5.8 million total)
Weapons – $1.2 million ($149.6 million total)
Freakier Friday – $1.1 million ($92.8 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Koyoharu Gotouge/Sony Pictures Releasing
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