The box office battle betweenFreakier FridayandWeaponshas kicked off with one taking a decisive lead on Thursday night. The former is a comedy legacy sequel that reunites original stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, while the latter is an original horror movie that is director Zach Cregger’s follow-up to his surprise 2022 hitBarbarian.
Both movies are projected to topple the Marvel superhero movieThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsfrom its perch atop the domestic box office chart. However, they are currently in a neck-and-neck race for No. 1. Critically,Weaponshas pulled ahead witha Certified Fresh 96% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Freakier Fridayreviewshave been solid too, just less so. Its Rotten Tomatoes scorecurrently stands at a Certified Fresh 73%.
PerDeadline,Weaponsearned $5.7 million at the domestic box office during Thursday previews, whileFreakier Fridayearned $3.1 million.Weaponshas taken the leadin spite of playing in considerably fewer theaters. The Disney comedy is playing on 3,975 screens, while the horror movie only played in 3,000 on Thursday night, with the number rising to 3,200 on Friday.
What This Means For Weapons
It is remarkable thatZach Cregger’sWeaponswas able to earn nearly double the preview haul ofFreakier Friday, considering the fact that it is an R-rated movie, whereas the comedy sequel is rated PG. Because of the age restrictions of the R rating,R movies typically have more limited audiences than PG ones.
This is reflected by the fact that only two of the highest-grossing R-rated movies in history,Deadpool & WolverineandJoker, have grossed more than $1 billion, whereas19 PG-rated movies have done so, includingHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 2025’sLilo & Stitch, andInside Out 2.
Additionally, in a year that has already been kind to the genre,Weapons' preview totals are higher than those of the two highest-grossing horror movies of the year, Ryan Coogler’sSinners($4.7 million) and the supernatural franchise sequelFinal Destination Bloodlines($5.5 million).
Our Take On The Week’s Box Office Previews
WhileWeaponshas taken a decisive lead, theFreakier Fridayreleaseis not out of the game just yet. Family movies tend to have more slow-and-steady growth whereashorror titles are frequently frontloaded, with large Friday hauls followed by dips on Saturday and Sunday.
This could certainly be the case forWeapons, especially becauseBarbarian’s twists and turns may have taught audience members to see Cregger movies as soon as possible in order to avoid being spoiled. Therefore, even thoughFreakier Fridayfell behind on Thursday, it still has time to catch up.
