Topline
“Weapons,” the buzzy new horror film from director Zach Cregger, made $5.7 million in Thursday night previews ahead of its opening Friday, a strong total surpassing the Thursday preview totals of this year’s highest-grossing horror movies, “Sinners” and “Final Destination Bloodlines.”
“Weapons” grossed $5.7 million in its first day Thursday to best its box office rival, “Freakier Friday,” which also opens this weekend and grossed $3.1 million on Thursday, Deadline and Variety reported.
The strong opening for “Weapons” follows excellent reviews—for weeks, the film had a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, but it has since slipped slightly to 96% from 167 reviews—and a viral marketing campaign.
“Weapons” may be on track to become one of this year’s biggest horror hits, as its Thursday total was bigger than the $4.7 million earned by “Sinners” in its Thursday previews and the $5.5 million grossed by “Final Destination Bloodlines,” which are this year’s two highest-grossing horror movies.
The only horror movie to have surpassed “Weapons” in Thursday previews gross this year is “28 Years Later,” which barely edged it out with $5.8 million, but that movie fizzled quickly at the box office.
Whether “Weapons” can fend off “Freakier Friday” to top this weekend’s box office. Though “Weapons” has the early edge based on Thursday previews, Deadline reported horror movies tend to be front-loaded at the box office. Both movies are expected to gross around $30 million this weekend, but Deadline reported “Weapons” is “pulling ahead with at least a low-to-mid $30M take or even more.”
Some theaters have scheduled screenings of “Weapons” for 2:17 p.m., a reference to the time in the film, 2:17 a.m., when a classroom full of children mysteriously disappear.
“Sinners” is the highest-grossing horror movie of 2025 so far, far surpassing expectations to gross $365 million worldwide. “Sinners,” a vampire film directed by Ryan Coogler from his original script, reportedly benefitted from a near-perfect 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes and word-of-mouth recommendations, which helped it nearly double box office projections for both its opening weekend and its second weekend. “Final Destination Bloodlines,” the sixth film in the “Final Destination” franchise, has grossed $285 million at the box office, likely helped by franchise name recognition and strong reviews, with a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. “28 Years Later,” despite a strong opening, made $150 million worldwide at the box office after failing to sustain momentum, dropping almost 70% between its first and second weekends.
“Weapons” went viral ahead of its release for its marketing campaign, which drew comparisons to horror hit “The Blair Witch Project” for using found footage and making the marketing materials—like faux news articles about the movie’s missing children—seem real. In April, Warner Bros. published a video of surveillance footage on YouTube, titled “2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov,” which portrays children running through town in the middle of the night. The studio also made a website, MaybrookMissing.com, resembling a real local news outlet covering the movie’s fictional town.
Horror Movie ‘Weapons’ Earns Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score After Viral Marketing Campaign (Forbes)
‘Weapons’ Hits $5.7M, ‘Freakier Friday’ $3M+ In Previews – Box Office (Deadline)