Tracking & Forecasts

Box Office Weekend Forecast: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER ($20M+) to Lean on DiCaprio’s Drawing Power; GABBY’S DOLLHOUSE and THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 to Counter

Photo Credits: Scott Cullen & Universal ("Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie"); Paul Thomas Anderson, Michael Bauman, & Warner Bros. ("One Battle After Another"); José David Montero & Lionsgate ("The Strangers: Chapter 2")

This report also appears in Box Office Theory’s Substack newsletter.

One Battle After Another
BOT Domestic Weekend Forecast Range: $20 — 30 million
Traditional Industry Tracking: $20 million

Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie
BOT Domestic Weekend Forecast Range: $17 — 23 million
Traditional Industry Tracking: $13 million+

The Strangers: Part 2
BOT Domestic Weekend Forecast Range: $4 — 7 million
Traditional Industry Tracking: $6 — 7 million

Key Tracking Factors & Rationale:

  • One Battle After Another continues to show volatile ranges of potential. Reviews are universally strong with a 98 percent fresh Rotten Tomatoes score from 127 critics, while pre-sales are noticeably ahead of Mickey 17 at the same point before release (though similarly premium screen-heavy) and similar to Killers of the Flower Moon.
    • Still, it remains to be seen exactly how much Leonardo DiCaprio’s unrivaled star power over the last two decades brings out casual moviegoers across middle America and outside coastal major cities for what’s shaping up to be a strong award season player for filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson and distributor Warner Bros.
    • Ultimately, word of mouth will be key for what is essentially going to be viewed as an original film by virtually all audiences. Opening weekend alone will likely not tell the eventual tale of OBAA.
  • Gabby’s Dollhouse is skewing sharply toward young female audiences, i.e. the mom-and-daughter crowd, and should see a mix of fan-driven pre-sale demand with walk-up business as the first major kid-driven movie to open since The Bad Guys 2 and Freakier Friday last month.
  • Unfortunately, The Strangers: Chapter 2 is pacing far behind its predecessor in exhibitor pre-sales while critics’ reviews stand at 25 percent fresh from an early sample size of 12 submissions.
  • The re-release of Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy could be a standout specialty player this weekend. We’re not currently offering up forecasts, but it could be a sleeper to sneak into the top ten depending how (or if) grosses are reported.

Weekend Forecast
(table below is best viewed in desktop format)

This weekend’s top 10 films are tracking to earn 4 percent below the same weekend in 2024 ($84.4 million), led by The Wild Robot‘s $35.8 million debut, and 3 percent below the same weekend in 2019 ($83.4 million), led by Abominable‘s $20.6 million start.

Film
Distributor
3-Day (Fri-Sun) Weekend Forecast
3-Day Change from Last Weekend
Projected Domestic Total through Sunday, September 28
Expected  Location Count (as of Wed)
One Battle After Another
Warner Bros.
$24,500,000
NEW
$24,500,000
~3,500
Gabby’s Dollhouse
Universal
$20,000,000
NEW
$20,000,000
~3,500
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
Sony & Crunchyroll
$8,400,000
-51%
$119,300,000
~3,000
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Warner Bros.
$7,600,000
-38%
$162,200,000
~2,800
The Strangers: Part 2
Lionsgate
$5,700,000
NEW
$5,700,000
~2,600
The Long Walk
Lionsgate
$4,400,000
-29%
$29,900,000
~2,200
Him
Universal
$4,000,000
-70%
$21,100,000
~3,168
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Focus Features
$3,700,000
-42%
$38,900,000
~3,100
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Sony
$1,600,000
-51%
$6,300,000
~3,330
The Senior
Angel Studios
$850,000
-68%
$4,500,000
~2,405

All forecasts above are subject to revision prior to the start of the weekend and will be notated accordingly. Theater counts are estimated unless otherwise stated.

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