“Now You See Me 3” Opens to $20.3 Million, Outpaces “The Running Man” Debut
Los Angeles – “Now You See Me 3″ launched with a $20.3 million domestic opening weekend, exceeding initial projections and securing the top spot at the box office. The film, a revival of the illusionist heist franchise directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, isla Fisher, and Dave Franco, received a ”B” grade from moviegoer pollster CinemaScore. Lionsgate invested over $90 million in the production. While the opening is solid, it falls below the “A-” grades earned by the previous two installments. Lionsgate typically mitigates financial risk by selling off international rights, potentially limiting overall earnings.
“The Running Man,” Paramount’s adaptation of the Stephen King story starring Glen Powell, debuted in second place with $17 million to $19 million. The R-rated film earned $6.4 million from Friday and preview screenings across 3,534 locations. Despite a lukewarm critical reception, audiences awarded it a “B+” CinemaScore. The film carries a $110 million production budget, co-financed by Domain Entertainment, and faces competition from upcoming releases like “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2.”
Disney’s “Predator: Badlands” earned $3.5 million on its second Friday, a 68% drop from its opening day, bringing its domestic gross to $56 million and projecting over $66 million through Sunday. It aims to surpass “Alien vs.Predator” ($80.2 million) as the franchise’s highest-grossing domestic release.
Rounding out the top five,”Regretting You” earned $1.2 million on Friday and is projected to reach $45 million domestically by Sunday. Neon’s indie horror film “Keeper” opened to approximately $1 million from 1,950 locations and is expected to debut in fifth place, considerably lower than writer-director Osgood Perkins’ previous films, ”longlegs” ($22 million) and “The Monkey” ($14 million), and received a “D+” CinemaScore.
