‘One Battle After Another’ delivers record debut for Paul Thomas Anderson at global box office; ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’ begins international expansion

Worldwide box office: September 26-28

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘One Battle After Another’ launches with $48.5m

Warner Bros looks to have another hit on its hands with One Battle After Another, topping the North American, international and global box office charts with the film’s opening session.

Estimated weekend takings are $22.4m for domestic, $26.1m for international, and thus $48.5m worldwide.

Globally, One Battle After Another has delivered the biggest ever opening for a Paul Thomas Anderson film, and it’s the biggest debut for the filmmaker in North America and 68 international markets including UK/Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

In six Latin American markets, One Battle After Another is already the biggest Paul Thomas Anderson film ever.

Imax proved a strong format for the film with an estimated $7.5m global gross – more than 15% of the total. In North America, Imax delivered 21% of the total.

For international, UK/Ireland and France tied with an estimated $3.4m debut, although France benefits from a five-day (Wednesday-to-Sunday) opening period versus three days for UK.

Next come Germany (an estimated $2.0m), Italy ($1.4m), Saudi Arabia and Australia (both $1.3m), and Mexico and Spain (both $1.1m).

A total of 74 international markets have opened so far, and yet to release are South Korea, Japan, China and Turkey.

Previously for the filmmaker, 2007’s There Will Be Blood reached $76.4m lifetime globally according to available data. Boogie Nights (1997) has been tracked at $43.1m globally lifetime, with 2017’s Phantom Thread at $52.2m. Most recently, 2021’s Licorice Pizza reached $33.3m.

One Battle After Another stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti and Regina Hall in a comedically flavoured action thriller about a former revolutionary who seeks help to rescue his teenage daughter after an enemy resurfaces.

The weekend saw Warner Bros become the first studio so far to hit $4bn at the 2025 worldwide box office. It’s the first time that Warner Bros has achieved this feat since pre-pandemic 2019. The studio has topped the worldwide box office chart for 15 weekends in 2025 so far.

‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’ delivers $19m session

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie landed in North America at the weekend, and expanded from a single early international market (New Zealand) to 37 foreign territories.

The film – which is adapted from the Netflix animated series – achieved second place in the domestic box office chart with an estimated $13.7m, and pulled in an estimated $5.5m for international. Cumulative box office is now $19.4m worldwide.

Australia and Mexico proved the strongest international markets, both with an estimated $1.1m, and next comes Italy ($925,000).

The rest of the opening markets were relatively small, with many key territories yet to release the film: South Korea, France, Germany, Brazil, UK/Ireland, Spain and Japan.

Gabby’s Dollhouse began on Netflix in 2021, with new seasons (typically six or seven episodes) coming thick and fast, and the 12^th season will begin streaming in November. The pre-school series, which combines live action and animation, was created by Traci Page Johnson and Jennifer Twomey, and sees Gabby and her friends – and cats – go on adventures inside her dollhouse.

Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is executive produced by Johnson and Twomey and directed by Ryan Crego.

‘Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc’ begins expansion as ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ hits $600m-plus worldwide

Sony/Crunchyroll began its rollout of Japanese anime Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc into its first 13 markets (all in Asia), grossing an estimated $7.0m. The film is now in its second week of play in Japan (via Toho), and the worldwide total from 14 territories is $26.0m.

Among the Sony/Crunchyroll markets, South Korea led with an estimated $3.5m, while Taiwan delivered $1.6m, topping the nation’s box office.

The film is following a similar release trajectory to current anime hit Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle – ie beginning in Japan, expanding next into other Asian markets, and then reaching North America and the rest of the world.

Late October will see Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc land in North America plus also key markets UK/Ireland, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Italy, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, the anime film is a direct sequel to the first season of the Chainsaw Man TV series (2022), and adapted from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga series.

Also for Sony/Crunchyroll (and a few other distributors), Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle added an estimated $24.3m worldwide at the weekend, good enough for second place in the worldwide box office chart, and bringing the total to $605.4m.

Infinity Castle is now the eight-biggest film of 2025 at the worldwide box office, and will next overtake seventh-placed Superman ($615.6m). F1 (aka F1: The Movie) and How To Train Your Dragon also look realistic targets for Infinity Castle, with $626.2m and $635.0m box office so far respectively.

‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ makes soft start

Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 2 opened in North America and 18 international markets, beginning with a disappointing estimated $7.2m – $5.9m for domestic and $1.3m for foreign.

In May 2024, The Strangers: Chapter 1 opened with $11.8m in North America, plus also $1.7m in its first 13 international markets. The film went on to reach $48.2m worldwide, including $35.2m in North America.

Despite the title, Chapter 2 is the fourth film in The Strangers film franchise, which began in 2008 with Bryan Bertino’s original. Johannes Roberts’ The Strangers: Prey At Night followed in 2018. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are part of a trilogy directed by Renny Harlin, with Chapter 3 expected in 2026

Lionsgate offered The Strangers: Chapter 2 as counter-programming to One Battle After Another, presumably calculating that a decent audience chunk would be looking for an alternative to the latest from Paul Thomas Anderson – whose box office has never matched his critical adulation. But One Battle After Another is engaging broader audiences than might have been anticipated.

‘They Call Him OG’ hits $27m

The Strangers: Chapter 2 was beaten in the worldwide weekend box office chart by Indian crime thriller They Call Him OG, directed and written by Sujeeth (Run Raja Run), and starring Pawan Kalyan as a retired gangster who in 1993 returns to Bombay (as Mumbai was then called) to confront a rival crime lord. The Telugu-language film released last Thursday (September 25), and the worldwide gross stands at $26.8m including $5.1m in North America (including previews last Wednesday).

• ‘One Battle After Another’ opens top at US box office