Disney’s much-awaited Freakier Friday and Warner Bros.’ and New Line’s critical favorite Weapons are racing toward a spirited late-summer battle at the box office in what may be a shot in the arm for two film genres that have underperformed on the big screen horror and comedies.
Top Spots Projected: Freakier Friday and Weapons Eye Box Office Domination
Most are forecasting that the couple will occupy the top two positions on the Aug. 8-10 chart, with Marvel Studios holdover The Fantastic Four: The First Steps coming in third reluctantly following a disastrous 67 percent decline to $38.6 million in its second run over the Aug. 1-3 weekend. Marvel and parent Disney remain optimistic about Fantastic Four resuming its form, but there’s no guarantee.
With little product this summer aiming for females, coupled with the nostalgia factor, Freakier Friday bringing Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis together 23 years after Freaky Friday debuted has a narrow lead in tracking, which has it opening at $28 million domestically. That would be a phenomenal start for a picture that cost a modest $42 million before marketing.
Multigenerational Plot Adds Depth to Freakier Friday Sequel
Directed by Nisha Ganatra, the film takes place after the first one, when Lohan’s character, Tess, had switched bodies with her mother, played by Curtis. This time around, in a multigenerational spin, they switch positions, respectively, with Tess’s daughter and soon-to-be stepdaughter. Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Rosalind Chao, Chad Michael Murray, Vanessa Bayer, and Mark Harmon join the cast.
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The Freaky Friday franchise, which also has a 1976 movie, is one based on the novel by Mary Rodgers. Disney has found huge success at playing off of nostalgia and enticing filmgoers in their 20s and 30s who were raised on earlier movies in its catalog. For instance, its live-action tentpole Lilo & Stitch, which is an adaptation of the 2002 animated movie, is the sole Hollywood film of 2025 to reach the $1 billion mark so far following its appeal to families and non-parents.
Freakier Friday Marks Return of Female-Skewing Summer Blockbuster
Also worth noting: Freakier Friday is the first summer event movie since Lilo & Stitch to skew female after a summer marquee that was full of male-skewing tentpoles. One other amusing factoid: despite all that time that has passed, the 2003 film has appeared on the top 10 list of most viewed films on Disney+ for the past week or so.
Hollywood film studio execs bemoan how comedies have become an endangered species in the era of streaming. Over last weekend, Paramount’s Naked Gun remake defied this trend in debuting to close to $17 million at home. Though that movie is more of a straight comedy, compared to a family comedy like Freakier Friday, it will be welcome news for everyone if both pan out.
Weapons Aims to Revive Horror Genre with High-Stakes Narrative
Horror films, too, could use a success after such box office flops as Blumhouse and Atomic Monsters’ M3GAN 2.0, which came in at just $10 million in June to reach a top of $40 million worldwide, less than half the $180 million of the first film.
Zach Cregger’s Weapons which is 100 percent on the critics’ chart at Rotten Tomatoes is estimated to open with $25 million, but may well land higher. The R-rated title’s package was the focus of a furious bidding war, and New Line and Warner Bros. emerged victorious in securing the $38 million budgeted film, which included a $10 million paycheck for Cregger, who caused a stir with his first feature film, 2022’s Barbarian, which he penned and directed.
Plot Details Add Intrigue: Weapons Features Chilling Classroom Mystery
Also an original screenplay, Weapons features Julia Garner as a schoolteacher who discovers 17 of the 18 kids in her classroom at the same time got out of bed and fled into the night the same moment, 2:17 a.m. Josh Brolin is a sorrowful father determined to locate his missing child, and is suspicious that the young teacher was involved.
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Aden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams and Amy Madigan also appear in Weapons, which will be shown on prized Imax Screens (Imax is also releasing summer blockbuster 51: The Movie on limited screens this weekend before presenting more showings next week.)
Freakier Friday will gain benefit of playing in hundreds of other premium large format screens, such as Dolby Cinema auditoriums.
