Box office slows after two blockbuster weekends as Demon Slayer leads but momentum fades

After two weekends of blockbuster results, the North American box office slowed noticeably, with neither a Jordan Peele–produced horror nor a Margot Robbie–Colin Farrell romance lifting September’s momentum. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle led the weekend with an estimated 17.3 million in ticket sales, while the new football-themed horror Him opened in second place with 13.5 million. The Conjuring: Last Rights remained in the mix, taking in about 13 million in its third weekend, as overall ticket sales were down nearly 50% from the prior weekend.

Demon Slayer’s North American total rose to about 104.7 million, making it the highest-grossing anime film in the region. The Sony–Crunchyroll release faced strong demand but did not match the breakout pace of the prior two weekends. Him, produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw and directed by Justin Tipping, opened in 3,168 theaters. The audience was 52% male and 65% over age 25. Internationally, the film earned about 400,000 in its debut. The film centers on a promising young quarterback invited to train with a veteran at an isolated facility. Critics gave it mixed to negative reviews; Rotten Tomatoes showed 29% and audiences gave it a CinemaScore of C-.

The Conjuring: Last Rights added about 13 million in its third weekend, bringing its global total to roughly 400 million and cementing its status as the biggest film in the Conjuring universe. On the Sony side, the studio released another title, the romance A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, starring Robbie and Farrell, which drew about 3.5 million from 3,300 theaters but failed to catch on with audiences and critics, who gave it a negative reception (Rotten Tomatoes currently around 37%).

In its second weekend, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale added 6.3 million, lifting its domestic total to 31.6 million. The Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk was estimated to gross 6.3 million in weekend two, down 46% from its opening, for a domestic total of 22.7 million, a figure that eclipses its production budget of 20 million when not counting marketing and promotion. Ron Howard’s 1995 classic Apollo 13 played in 200 theaters this weekend for its 30th anniversary, grossing about 600,000.

Next weekend brings Paul Thomas Anderson’s new project One Battle After Another into theaters, though his biggest box-office success to date remains There Will Be Blood, which has worldwide gross of just over 76 million. Separately, AMC Theatres announced an event around Taylor Swift, hosting a release party for her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl at all 540 AMC locations from Oct. 3 through Oct. 5.