‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ aces $75.5m global box office opening; ‘The Running Man’ starts with $28.2m

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates. 

The time is Now

Magic thriller Now You See Me: Now You Don’t opened top of the global chart this weekend, with a $75.5m session.

The third title in the illusionist crime series opened in 65 markets, taking $54.2m from international territories and $21.3m from the US through Lionsgate, according to latest estimates.

It scored the number one spot in 40 international territories, with strong results from China ($19.2m), CIS ($6.4m), Latin America ($5.5m), South Korea ($3.9m), France ($3.5m) and UK-Ireland ($3.2m).

Its $54.2m international bow is ahead of the $21.2m international opening weekend of Now You See Me 2 from 2016, although that was only in 30 markets.

Now You Don’t sees the Four Horsemen magicians unite with a new generation of illusionists to expose the corruption of a powerful diamond heiress with ties to arms dealers, traffickers and warlords.

Franchise returnees Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher and Morgan Freeman are joined by Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt and Rosamund Pike. The film is directed by Venom and Uncharted director Ruben Fleischer.

To Infinity and beyond

Anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle soared back up the global chart to second place with a $53.8m session, now reaching $730m worldwide.

The film took an estimated $53.6m from international markets, of which $52.4m came from its opening in China through Maoyan. A strong 23% of that China total ($12.3m) came from Imax – the biggest-ever Imax opening weekend for a Japanese film in China, and second-biggest ever for an animated film after 2025 global box office leader Ne Zha 2.

Infinity Castle opened in the US through Sony and international markets including UK-Ireland on the weekend of September 12-14, and is now playing in 61 markets worldwide.

It is currently the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year, and a strong tail in China could see it catch the $869m of Jurassic World: Rebirth.

It is already the highest-grossing anime film ever worldwide, and the highest-grossing international film ever in North America; and has made $86m worldwide through Imax. 

Anime continues to thrive at the global box office. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, another Sony title for US and several international territories, added $6.9m and has passed $168m total; while Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution has now launched in 10 international markets, with $4.8m this weekend and a $10m total. The two titles took sixth and seventh place in the global chart.

Running start

Edgar Wright’s The Running Man remake launched to $28.2m from 59 markets for Paramount, according to estimates – enough for fourth place in the global chart.

It took $11.2m from 58 international markets, led by UK-Ireland ($3.3m), Germany ($1.1m) and Australia ($1m). $4.2m of its total came from Imax, of which $1.3m came from international markets.

The film will debut in France, Brazil and Spain next week; followed by South Korea on December 4, China on December 5 and Japan on January 30.

The film has had a strong marketing run across the past week, with Arnold Schwarzenegger – star of the 1987 original film – discussing the film with Wright and new star Glen Powell; while Wright and Powell were joined by Tom Cruise at the film’s London premiere.

Adapted by Wright and Michael Bacall from Stephen King’s 1982 novel, The Running Man follows a man who joins a gameshow in which contestants are pursued around the world by hunters hired to kill them.

Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones and William H. Macy star with Powell.

Nuremberg trials

James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg tested the waters in two additional markets of UK-Ireland and Spain, making $1.1m; and $3.7m including the US. The post-Second World War drama now has $9.9m in total.

Previous releases rolling through this weekend included Disney’s Predator: Badlands, which added $29.1m on its second wide session for a $136.3m total.

It made $16.1m internationally on this session, to hit the $70m mark in international territories, making it the second-highest-grossing Predator film outside of the US, behind only the $95.3m of 2018’s Predator.

It remained the number one film in Japan and South Korea; and posted decent holds in Germany (-35%), France (-43%) and Italy (-44%).

Paramount romantic drama Regretting You added $7.1m ($3.1m from international) to hit $82.5m worldwide ($37.5m international); while Universal horror Black Phone 2 has grossed $127.7m worldwide ($53.1m international) after a $4.3m weekend ($1.7m international).

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