The summer movie season is beginning to wind down. August is, by a considerable margin, smaller by every measure when compared to June and July. The most-anticipated blockbusters such as "Superman" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" are in the rearview mirror, with kids soon going back to school. Still, the release calendar is far from barren. To that end, we've got a double bill coming our way next weekend, with both "Weapons" and "Freakier Friday" arriving. Each of these movies have a lot of upside
potential and are gunning for very different audiences. No matter who comes out on top, everyone wins.
As of this writing, each movie is tracking to open north of $25 million. In both cases, $25 million seems to be on the conservative side as well, though there is a clear favorite. Disney's "Freakier Friday," a sequel to 2003's "Freaky Friday," is looking at a debut between $45-$55 million, per Box Office Theory. As for Warner Bros.' "Weapons," a new original horror film from "Barbarian" director Zach Cregger, it is currently looking to premiere with somewhere between $25-$34 million. In each case, those numbers would represent wins for the movies' respective studios.
Mind you, this doesn't take into account international grosses, which should be solid for each title. Disney has one of the best marketing machines in the business, while Warner Bros. has had itself one heck of a year despite some recent misfires. If current projections hold, both movies should be in damn fine shape.
It's one of those situations where counter programming is being done right. Though it won't be as big as Barbenheimer, where "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" both had blockbuster debuts, it's the same idea. Disney is offering the family-friendly, PG option, while Warner Bros. is giving horror-seeking audiences something original and R-rated to look forward to. Their target demographics couldn't be more different, meaning both movies shouldn't get in one another's way and theaters should have plenty of full auditoriums. Again, everybody wins.
Read more: Every Actor Who Has Played Nosferatu (And What They Look Like Without Makeup)
Freakier Friday Aims To Capitalize On 2000s Nostalgia
Looking at "Freakier Friday" specifically, it's not hard to see the potential here. The 2003 version of "Freaky Friday" was a hit, taking in $160.8 million against a sub-$30 million budget in its day. More than that, it's become a generational favorite for those who grew up with it more than 20 years ago. Those people are now adults with kids who will likely want to share in the fun. Or, at the very least, older millennials who want to revisit their youth will be attracted to it.
Directed by Nisha Ganatra, the sequel picks up years after Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lindsay Lohan) endured an identity crisis, swapping bodies with one another. Now, Anna has a daughter and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna wind up in the midst of a four-way body-swapping crisis.
For Disney, this is yet another attempt to capitalize on early 2000s nostalgia. That worked like gangbusters for the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" remake, which crossed $1 billion recently after hitting theaters earlier this summer. It's the first and only Hollywood movie of 2025 to reach that milestone thus far. It's the right nostalgia era to target at the moment, it seems, and if Ganatra and Disney did right by fans of the original with a "Jurassic World" style legacy sequel that becomes a crowd-pleaser, this one could become the dark horse, big hit of the summer.
Weapons Looks To Bring Out Horror Fans En Masse
As for "Weapons," there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. Cregger shot out of the gate like a rocket when his feature debut "Barbarian" became a surprise hit in 2022, taking in $45 million at the box office against a mere $4.5 million budget. It also recently became a huge hit on Netflix, which could/should help bring some added awareness/interest for Cregger's follow-up. "Weapons," notably, carries a much bigger budget in the $38 million range. That makes it a bit expensive for a horror movie, but still in the mid-budget range overall.
The film picks up when all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanishes on the same night at exactly the same time, leaving the local community to question who or what is behind the disappearance. Julia Garner ("Ozark"), Josh Brolin ("Deadpool 2"), Benedict Wong ("Doctor Strange"), Alden Ehrenreich ("Solo: A Star Wars Story"), and Austin Abrams ("Euphoria") star.
Horror can be one of the more reliable genres at the box office these days, with "Final Destination Bloodlines" and "28 Years Later" finding major success this summer. It's also one of the only places where original cinema can thrive. Case in point, Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" recently became the first original movie to make more than $200 million domestically in nearly a decade and is currently sitting at $365.8 million worldwide. Warner Bros. may have dropped the ball with the overseas release on that one, though, so here's hoping the studio can avoid the same mistake again here.
Last, both "Freakier Friday" and "Weapons" will benefit from a lack of direct competition. "The Naked Gun" and "The Bad Guys 2" will be in their second weekends, with "Nobody 2" and the little-promoted horror movie "Witchboard" arriving the following weekend. August 22 is even more barren, meaning there won't be a truly major new release posing a meaningful challenge until "The Conjuring: Last Rites" arrives at the start of September. So, if all goes well, both "Freakier Friday" and "Weapons" could be set up for a nice month-long run.
"Weapons" and "Freakier Friday" both hit theaters on August 8, 2025.
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