Fall season got underway, but it was a bunch of mixed results at the box office. Practical Magic 2 stopped Spider-Man's reign at the box office, but its numbers (especially outside America) are raising big questions about its prospects. Runner over-performed projections, while Hope got off to a fine start, given the things against it, and The Uprising fared very poorly.

The Top 10 earned a combined $74.4 million this weekend. That's down a massive 46.7% from last year, when Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle destroyed so many anime records.

Debuting at #1, WB's Practical Magic 2 earned a middling $30 million in 4,146 theaters. That's considerably higher than the 1998 original's debut ($13.1 million), but in terms of inflation, that debut would be $26.9 million. Given the addition of premium formats, there's a very strong chance that the sequel sold less tickets than the original.

The film cost $75 million, and WB mounted a marketing campaign that highlighted Sandra Bullock's and Nicole Kidman's return. And while pre-sales started on a high note, they started going down over the final week. While it indicated it could reach $40 million, it has dropped all the way to $30 million. That's not a bad start, but it's also not particularly great.

The original Practical Magic wasn't really successful back in 1998. In fact, it performed quite poorly. Even though Bullock and Kidman were already established stars with hits to their names, the film earned a very weak $46.7 million domestically and $94.4 million worldwide, failing to recoup its $75 million budget. On top of that, it earned negative reviews from critics (30% on RT) and audiences ("B−" on CinemaScore). Now, reportedly the film found a second life on cable and home media, and it's why WB finally greenlit a sequel after 28 years.

But that's the thing with legacy sequels: the performance of a sequel relies on how popular the original film was. Top Gun was massively popular, and Maverick lived up to the hype and that led to $1.5 billion worldwide. Or just recently, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice making almost $500 million worldwide. But Practical Magic lacked that popularity; not only was it far off from other Bullock titles like Gravity ($274 million), Speed ($121 million) or Miss Congeniality ($106 million), it didn't even crack the year's top 35. Hell, it was even outgrossed by Bullock's mediocre rom-com Forces of Nature ($52.9 million) the year afterwards.

In some ways, the performance feels similar to Blade Runner 2049. A very lengthy gap to release a legacy sequel, but the sequel doesn't perform well (at least 2049 had acclaim). But still, 2049 opened to $32.7 million, so how come it was higher than a Bullock-Kidman vehicle? Maybe it's a matter of perspective; Blade Runner and Practical Magic flopped in their initial release, but Blade Runner is a very influential film that has found more and more audiences with each passing generation (it's literally the first thing that people think about when it comes to cyberpunk or sci-fi noir). Practical Magic isn't close to its influence, and it's not widely considered to be a good film.

WB also didn't do a great job in terms of interesting the audience with the footage. Or at least, nothing that would grab casuals who didn't watch the original. While they emphasized Bullock and Kidman with their chemistry, the plot was pretty much an afterthought. There was just nothing compelling about the trailers.

Sandra Bullock has been a very bankable draw at the box office, evidenced by the amount of $100 million grossers to her name (her last lead role was The Lost City with $105 million). But there's one area she has been disappointing: sequels. Prior to this, she had starred in two sequels, Speed 2: Cruise Control and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (Ocean's 8 doesn't count, because that wasn't a sequel to one of her films). And both sequels fared very poorly with critics and tanked at the box office. It's a big factor in why she is hesitant to do sequels, and why Practical Magic 2 had a rocky road.

But what can really sink a legacy sequel is when it has no excuse to exist. And that appears to be the case of Practical Magic 2: it's sitting at a very poor 39% on RT. If someone didn't care for the original, they certainly will have zero interest for the sequel. Seems like it's for hardcore fans only.

According to WB, a massive 78% of the audience was female. It failed to attract new audiences: 69% of the audience was over 25, and 36% was 45 and over. Even with getting stars like Joey King and Maisie Williams in lead roles, it doesn't look like the young demographic cared much.

Audiences gave Practical Magic 2 a "B+" on CinemaScore. That's better than the original ("B−"), but that's not a great score. The 1998 was a fairly original film that the audience was unfamiliar with, yet the sequel is aimed towards the biggest fans of the film. Which makes this grade very middling, and suggests word of mouth will only be a bit better than the poor reviews. Given the fate of other poorly-received legacy sequels and the incoming competition, look for Practical Magic 2 to finish with around $75 million domestically. Which means it will have less ticket attendance than the original ($96 million adjusted). And given the overseas numbers, it looks like this might be a money loser.

As the film has no chance of hitting $100 million, WB remains the only major studio without a single film reaching that mark this year. The company has had problems with launching their titles, and it doesn't look like Digger and Clayface could change that trajectory.

After topping the box office for six weekends, Spider-Man: Brand New Day fell to second place. It dropped 54%, earning $8.4 million. The film has now earned $935.1 million, and it will overtake The Force Awakens ($936.6 million) by Tuesday to become the biggest domestic release ever.

The Odyssey continues showing great legs. It dropped 42%, adding another $7.5 million. The film has earned a colossal $600.7 million, and it's $26.5 million behind Deadpool & Wolverine through the same point.

In fourth place, Angel Studios' Runner surprised with $6.4 million in 2,568 theaters. Much better than usual for the typical Angel Studios release, but it looks like pairing Alan Ritchson with Owen Wilson was enough to attract audiences. It got an "A–" on CinemaScore, so maybe it could find itself in a good spot.

Coyote vs. Acme eased 49%, earning $6.1 million. The film's domestic total stands at $47.6 million, and it looks to finish with around $60 million.

The best drop of the weekend belonged to Saban/Roadside's Buddy. It eased just 41%, adding $3.4 million. The film has amassed a pretty great $21.1 million, indicating strong word of mouth.

Insidious: Out of the Further dropped 48%, for a $3.3 million weekend. The film has earned $60.5 million domestically, and it's set to take a hit with Resident Evil opening this week.

Focus Features' The Uprising tanked in eighth place, debuting with just $3.3 million in 2,068 theaters. That's one of director Paul Greengrass' worst wide debuts, only marginally better than News of the World ($2.2 million), and that was released during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite some notable names (mainly Andrew Garfield) and its "rebellion against tyranny" story, Focus Features didn't really push the film much domestically. And then they missed the mark when they briefly advertised the film as a Robin Hood origin story, when nothing in the trailers indicated that. After the British distributor expressed disapproval, Focus dropped that angle. But it drew negative attention to the film. And by tying it to Robin Hood, it helped dissuade interest, given the name hasn't been much of a draw for the past two decades (The Death of Robin Hood flopped just three months ago). The film's mediocre reviews (53% on RT) didn't help.

According to Focus Features, 58% of the audience was male, with 40% of the audience in the 25-34 demographic. They gave it a poor "B–" on CinemaScore, suggesting it will drop off quickly. While this is a film that is clearly aimed at international audiences, this is such a weak start that it will have it difficult to make a profit.

Debuting in ninth place, Neon's Hope earned a fine $3.2 million in 1,560 theaters ($4.9 million five-day). This is a solid start, considering everything it can face. Foreign titles are hit-and-miss at the States, and the reviews were positive but not glowing. It's hard to ask for much better numbers here. Notably, its biggest demographic was Hispanic at 30%, followed by Caucasian (28%) and Asian American (24%).

Paramount's By Any Means rounded out the Top 10, collapsing a brutal 67% and making just $2.4 million this weekend. Through 10 days, the film has earned a meager $13.4 million, and it's set to finish with less than $20 million.

In eleventh place, Disney released the documentary Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger in 1,225 theaters, and earned a so-so $1.3 million.

Two dino films fell hard this week. Both Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie and The End of Oak Street lost 62% and 66%, with both earning $1.2 and $1 million this weekend. Respective domestic totals stand at $51.5 million and $53.3 million.

Fall 2 and Onslaught vanished from theaters on their second weekends. They dropped 73% and 86%, respectively. They have made an abysmal $4.6 million and $3 million through Monday.

OVERSEAS

The Odyssey has added a new record to its resume. With $27 million overseas, the film hit $1.687 billion worldwide. Which means it has officially passed Jurassic World ($1.671 billion) to become Universal's highest-grossing film of all time.

In Japan, the film opened with $4.1 million, including previews from limited screenings last week. The film's top markets are the UK ($113.7M), China ($104.3M), France ($88.8M), South Korea ($87.6M) and Germany ($61.8M). On IMAX, the film crossed $506.1 million worldwide ($215.2 million domestically, $290.8 million overseas) and IMAX 70MM hit $78.8 million.

The Odyssey already sits as the 12th highest grossing film of all time, and will soon pass Inside Out 2 ($1.698 billion) to move to eleventh place. And passing Zootopia 2 ($1.866 billion) isn't impossible either.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day added $19 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to $2.451 billion. The best markets are China ($233M), the UK ($132M), Mexico ($90.7M), France ($86.5M), and Brazil ($76.7M).

Practical Magic 2 wasn't big outside America. It debuted with a very weak $16 million overseas, for a soft $46 million worldwide launch. While it's hard to compare it to The Lost City as that had a staggered release, this debut is only a little better than the $15.5 million launch for Freakier Friday.

The film had soft starts in the UK ($3.9M) and Australia ($2.2M), and it disappointed in Mexico ($1.2M), Germany ($770K), Spain ($651K), France ($569K), Brazil ($528K), Italy ($487K), Poland ($315K), UAE ($270K), Holland ($253K) and New Zealand ($237K). In some of these markets, the film opened below The Lost City and Freakier Friday.

These numbers aren't great at all, and suggests the film will struggle in breaking even unless the domestic market shows incredible legs.

Coyote vs. Acme hit $33 million overseas, for a $80.6 million worldwide total. Mexico remains the biggest overseas market, with $13.1 million so far.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

• When is making $500 million considered disappointing? When your previous films made $1.1 billion and $940 million, respectively. Universal/Illumination's Minions & Monsters has closed with $183 million domestically and $522 million worldwide. Given how cheap these films are, it's a very successful film. At the same time, however, it marks a rough 45% decline in worldwide sales from the prior film. Not only that, it was the lowest grossing film in the whole Despicable Me franchise. What's crazy is that it had the franchise's best reviews at 89% RT. But it looks like after 16 years, the franchise has hit its ceiling at the box office. Nothing close to a failure, but it looks like Illumination will have to re-think what to do with the Minions after this.
• Time to hand over your badges. Searchlight's Super Troopers 3 has closed with a very poor $7.7 million. That's basically less than what the prior film made on its opening day ($7.9 million). While this franchise has its fans, it was very niche in terms of appeal. But the fact that it dropped so hard proved how uninteresting and unappealing it felt, even to the most diehard fans. Broken Lizard might continue making films, but perhaps it's time to put Super Troopers to rest.

THIS WEEKEND

Horror has been lacking in terms of big bucks… so let's make way for the biggest and buzziest title in months.

Sony is releasing the latest Resident Evil reboot. This version is helmed by Zach Cregger, who is coming off the success of Barbarian and Weapons. This story does not follow the games nor will star any of the previously set characters, opting to focus on completely original characters during the outbreak. Trailers have been pretty great, and Sony has done an amazing job in marketing the film as a "back to basics" approach. Given Cregger's track record is pretty damn great so far, this should become an easy moneymaker for Sony and Capcom.

STREAMING DATA

Figures for the week of August 31 to September 6 on Netflix:

On its second week, The Whisper Man topped the Netflix charts with a strong 33.4 million views, taking its 10-day total to 56.6 million views.

The Secret Woman was the next closest title, making 19.3 million on its second frame.

Other than that, it was a fairly quiet for titles at Netflix.

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