For the fourth time in the past ten weeks, an anime movie has won the weekend at the domestic box office. CHAINSAW MAN –THE MOVIE: REZE ARC from Sony’s Crunchyroll took first place with $17.3M in its opening three days. This follows the back-to-back wins for Crunchyroll’s DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA – THE MOVIE: INFINITY CASTLE on the weekend of September 12-14 and September 19-21, and Netflix’s KPOP DEMON HUNTERS from August 22-24.
The fact that three different films have participated in this streak shows that anime movies have become more than occasional titles with sporadic interest from North American audiences. These three movies have grossed $167.2M domestically so far, with more ticket sales ahead.
This is a welcome boost for theatres when many of the major studio releases have underperformed expectations over the past two months. One could argue that a shortage of studio titles during this period has left space for “alternative” movies to fill the void. Regardless, anime’s proven ability to turn out moviegoers cannot be denied.
CHAINSAW MAN was helped by REGRETTING YOU and SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE to lift all films to a total box office of $74.9M, well behind last year’s total on this same weekend when VENOM: THE LAST DANCE opened to $51.0M and all films earned $93.9M.
Halloween falls next Friday, and the prospects for an improved box office are not promising. BUGONIA from Focus Features and the team that produced POOR THINGS will expand from its opening in selected theatres this weekend to a full wide release.
BUGONIA grossed produced $690K at only 17 theatres this weekend, making for a spectacular per-theatre average of $40,588. Those 17 theatres are among the highest-grossing venues in the country and are located in the eight largest theatrical markets. It remains to be seen how well this will translate to a nationwide release. Next weekend, Netflix is also bringing back KPOP DEMON HUNTERS for a second run in theatres, in a test to see how much meat is left on its theatrical bones.
FIRST PLACE
CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC from Sony and Crunchyroll outsold all other movies with a gross of $17.3M in its first three days. This is another sign of the potential for anime movies in the North American market. The movie was animated by the Japanese studio MAPPA and directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, who had previously worked on the TV series Chainsaw Man.
The movie is a direct sequel to the first season of the series, rather than offering a stand-alone storyline. When the show premiered in Japan on October 11, 2022, it became an instant hit. Some of this success may be due to the fact that, despite having graphic content, the anime faced minimal censorship in Japan, which is unusual for mainstream TV.
Season One contained 12 episodes, and the movie picks up right where that season leaves off. The core cast and crew from the anime series are also involved in the feature, ensuring continuity in voice performances, character design, and direction. While the TV show has been praised for its action scenes, the team knew it had to up its game for a feature-length film. They describe some of the movie’s action sequences as “amusement-park ride” levels of intensity that raise the stakes beyond the TV series. The action sequences are filled with quick cuts, violence, and elaborate choreography that play for the big screen.
The critics have weighed in on Rotten Tomatoes with an impressive 96% score, albeit with only 25 reviews at this point, while audiences are bursting with their praise and a 99% rating. Here are two reviews. IndieWire “It’s one of the best films in the recent crop of anime TV expansions, and its bittersweet teen love story is certainly potent enough to make you cry”. The Wrap gets right to the heart of the matter by saying, “Look, do you want to see a man made out of chainsaws or not?”
The production budget for the movie was $15M, projecting out to a $38M target in worldwide ticket sales to become profitable. It will reach this milestone in its first three days, after its very successful debut in the U.S. and Canada, and strong results are expected across the 80+ International markets where it has been scheduled. For a comparison picture, we have chosen DEMON SLAYER: MUGEN TRAIN from 2021. That movie matches CHAINSAW MAN’s tone with themes of grief, redemption, and relentless battles against grotesque enemies.
CHAINSAW MAN vs. DEMON SLAYER: MUGEN TRAIN
SECOND PLACE
BLACK PHONE 2 from Universal and Blumhouse dropped down from first to second place this weekend with an additional $13.0M, a drop of 52%. This brings its ten-day totals to $49.1M domestically and $80.4M worldwide. The is a somewhat significant drop, with its creators hoping that the horror sequel would hold up better in the lead-up to Halloween.
The film continues to track closely with the original as THE BLACK PHONE, which earned $47.4M in its first 10 days in 2022. This being a Blumhouse production, the budget for the film was kept lean at only $20M, so its target to be profitable is only $50M in worldwide sales, a goal that it has already passed. The filmmakers will need to gauge whether the franchise can generate enough interest to go for a trilogy. We suspect Blumhouse to go for it, and next time land on a summer release.
BLACK PHONE 2 vs. THE BLACK PHONE after 10 Days
THIRD PLACE
Paramount’s romantic drama REGRETTING YOU scored $12.9M in ticket sales in its opening weekend, good enough for a close third-place finish. After including sales from foreign markets, it has now earned $22.9M. The screenplay is an adaptation of a 2019 novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover, whose stories have become highly sought-after properties for movie makers.
Hoover also wrote It Ends With Us, which was turned into a highly successful movie of the same name in 2024. Starring Blake Lively, IT ENDS WITH US went on to gross $351.4M on a budget of only $25M, yielding a worldwide box office to production budget ratio of 14 to 1. REGRETTING YOU is trying to tap into some of that same success, with two more Hoover books already in stages of development as new movies.
Paramount is due to release REMINDERS OF HIM on March 13, 2026, and Amazon and MGM Studios are working on VERITY with a release scheduled for October 2, 2026. This amounts to four of Hoover’s books becoming feature films within two years. Let’s hope her fans turn out to support these movies.
The movie is directed by Josh Boone, known for his prior adaptation of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS from 2014. The plot of the movie revolves around Morgan Grant, a devoted mother, and her teenage daughter, Clara, whose close bond shatters after a tragic accident exposes long-buried secrets and betrayals. Mother and daughter are forced to navigate heartbreak and forgiveness to rediscover trust in one another.
Set in a small town in Texas, the story weaves together themes of love, loss, and second chances – culminating in the characters finding strength through painful truth and renewed understanding. The cast includes Allison Williams (GET OUT from 2017) as Morgan Grant, McKenna Grace (GIFTED from 2017) as Clara Grant, Dave Franco (NOW YOU SEE ME from 2013) as Jonah Sullivan, and Mason Thames (THE BLACK PHONE from 2022) as Miller Adams.
Critics have rejected this new movie, with a lowly 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes, among the lowest of the year for a major studio release. The audience’s opinion is almost opposite, with an 88% rating. We’ll see if this positive outlook is enough to buoy the film in the weeks ahead.
Here are some samples from the critics’ reviews. The Guardian said, “The film … lacks the emotional weight, chemistry, and cinematic polish of its predecessor … any momentum jolted by basic hits of mourning … mechanical delivery and off-timed humor.” The Associated Press weighed in with “Some tragedy, some romance, and a regretful helping of corn … the tears give way to smiles, quips and then full-on rom-com corniness … one and a half stars out of four.” The San Francisco Chronicle was particularly brutal: “‘Regretting You’ will make you regret watching it … poor casting, weak acting, romantic subplots feel clichéd and outdated.” In an effort to be somewhat positive, Punch Drunk says, “It’s an overwrought and corny drama with soap-opera sub-plots … the talented cast delivers fully committed performances … one saving grace.”
With a production budget of $30M, REGRETTING YOU will only need to get to $75M in worldwide sales to become profitable. While no one expected this book-to-film effort to do as well as IT ENDS WITH US, it’s still alarming to finish in third place in its debut on a relatively slow weekend overall. On a positive note, Hoover has a substantial international following with her books having been translated into more than 25 languages.
Foreign sales for IT ENDS WITH US accounted for 58% of the worldwide total box office, and if REGRETTING YOU can match that domestic-to-international ratio, it will only need $31.5M in the U.S. and Canada to reach $78M worldwide and break even. For a comparison film, we feel compelled to look to Hoover’s IT ENDS WITH US. The filmmakers of the other two Hoover books that are in production will want to look to both examples as they consider the prospects for their upcoming films.
REGRETTING YOU vs. IT ENDS WITH US
FOURTH PLACE
SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE from Disney’s Twentieth Century Studios opened to $9.1M domestically and $16.1M worldwide. This movie is the biographical story of a slice of Bruce Springsteen’s incredible career, which has spanned 56 years. The film concentrates on a specific and intense period in his life and career while making the 1982 album Nebraska.
The music from Nebraska is a stark, all-acoustic production that Springsteen made in his bedroom using a simple 4-track recorder. The screenplay is based on the 2023 book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska by Warren Zanes. The title comes from a lyric in the song titled Open All Night, and ties into the thematic sense of isolation, rootlessness, and desire for deliverance that permeated Springsteen’s mind at the time.
The film’s director, Scott Cooper (CRAZY HEART from 2009), has said his movie explores Springsteen’s mental health, trauma, and the pressures of success, framing this period as “his most painful chapter.” Springsteen was deeply involved in the movie, having personally selected Jeremy Allen White to play himself. He met with the actor, giving access to aspects of his life that White wanted to know so that he could portray him convincingly.
He even gifted the actor a guitar that White learned to play for the film. Springsteen publicly praised Jeremy Allen White’s performance, saying, “he did a wonderful job … a much better looking version of me,” showing his sense of humor and endorsement. Supporting cast includes Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) as Jon Landau (Springsteen’s longtime manager/producer) and Stephen Graham as Doug Springsteen (Bruce’s father).
Filming began in October 2024 at locations that were central to Springsteen’s life at the time, including Asbury Park, The Meadowlands, and Freehold. One challenge was to make all these locations appear as they existed in 1982, 43 years ago.
Critics have only barely given the film a passing grade, with a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences were more positive with an 85% score. Here is a sampling of some of the critics’ reviews. The Associated Press commented, “The film … offers a deep, emotional dive into the making of Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska … a soulful character-study that sets itself apart from typical biopics.” The Washington Post said, “The film … delves into a dark and moody period … despite its atmospheric strength … ultimately fails to capture the raw originality that made ‘Nebraska’ iconic.” People stated that “The Shameless alum delivers a performance that is steeped in a truth so natural and unforced that by the end of the film you almost forget that he’s playing someone else.” As a comparison film, we have chosen last year’s biopic about Bob Dylan, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, that also covers only a small slice of the performer’s life.
SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE vs. A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
FIFTH PLACE
TRON ARES fell to fifth place by selling $4.9M in its third weekend, a drop of 56%. The action fantasy sequel has earned $63.4M domestically and $123.4M worldwide in the 17 days since it opened. Disney finds itself in the awkward position of hoping to limit its losses on a relatively high-profile and expensive film that hasn’t lived up to its pre-release expectations.
We estimate its final numbers will come in at $80M domestically and $160M worldwide, far short of the $450M required for breakeven. On the bright side, Disney has a strong slate of movies for the rest of the quarter with PREDATOR: BADLANDS opening on 11/7, ZOOTOPIA 2 on 11/26, and AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH on 12/19. As for TRON: ARES, it’s high time to turn the page and move on.
TRON: ARES vs. Other TRON FILMS after 17 Days
Where Are We as of 10/23/2025
After 42 weeks, the 2025 domestic box office stands at 104% compared to the same point in 2024 and 75% compared to 2019.
