Can a peace be forged between the worlds of theatrical and streaming? That is one of the great questions of the modern age in entertainment, and as things stand... things have never looked murkier. Blockbuster hits on the big screen are still very much a thing, but front-loaded box office numbers are also very much a thing, and the shrunken window of cinema exclusivity is regularly to blame. The fight rages on – which makes a weekend like this one quite strange, as the number on movie domestically right now is a Netflix original.
While Zach Cregger's Weapons has been the buzziest and biggest release of August 2025, the hit horror film had to settle for second place in its third weekend on the big screen, as the sing-along event for Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans' KPop Demon Hunters was the biggest thing happening in cinemas over the last three days. It's a strange thing to see a streaming original dominate the box office, but here we are! Check out the full Top 10 in the chart below and join me after for analysis.
TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along Event | $18,000,000 | $18,000,000 | N/A | 1,700 |
2. Weapons | $15,600,000 | $115,881,000 | 1 | 3,631 |
3. Freakier Friday | $9,200,000 | $70,540,708 | 2 | 3,675 |
4. The Fantastic Four: First Steps | $5,900,000 | $257,251,951 | 4 | 3,190 |
5. The Bad Guys 2 | $5,100,000 | $66,178,000 | 5 | 3,288 |
6. Nobody 2 | $3,700,000 | $16,547,000 | 3 | 3,282 |
7. Superman | $3,430,000 | $346,975,000 | 6 | 2,338 |
8. Honey Don’t* | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 | N/A | 1,317 |
9. The Naked Gun | $2,950,000 | $47,563,000 | 7 | 2,776 |
10. Jurassic World Rebirth | $2,100,000 | $335,580,000 | 8 | 2,100 |
KPop Demon Hunters Beats Out Weapons To Top The Box Office
There are a good number of stories from my 15-plus years as an entertainment journalist that are permanently tattooed to my brain, and one of them concerns the commentary from Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings following the theatrical bow of Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in late 2022. The film starring Daniel Craig had an impressive limited theatrical run, and the executive admitted that "lots" of money was left on the table because of distribution choices.
I think about this now specifically because that comment was spurred on by Glass Onion making $15 million in a single weekend, and in the last three days, the KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along Event brought in $18 million.
The animated feature has been a big streaming hit since it made its debut for Netflix subscribers back on June 20, but the fact that the film was playing on the big screen got people out of their homes to watch it with fellow fans. The sing-along wasn't available everywhere, with a theater count of 1,700 (per The Numbers), but that just makes the fact that it hit number one at the box office more impressive: KPop Demon Hunters rocked a $10,588 per theater average in the last three days, which was more than double any other movie in the Top 10 this weekend.
Strange as it may be, the movie's success qualifies as the 25th best opening weekend of 2025 thus far (fitting between the $19 million made by Bong Joon Ho's Mickey 17 in its first three days and the $16.8 million earned by Akiva Schaffer's The Naked Gun). KPop Demon Hunters also now qualifies as Netflix's biggest theatrical release ever thanks to it outgrossing Glass Onion.
The fact that this is a sing-along event obviously makes it a special case in the realm of Netflix's distribution plans, but it's success that can't be ignored. Not every original feature from the streamer could have this kind of success on the big screen (sing-alongs or no), but there definitely are others that could. There are still notable conflicts between the company and some theater chains, but I wonder if Netflix might start to make some bolder moves and try out different stuff with its biggest titles.
Within this conversation, it's worth noting that we are now less than two months away from seeing Guillermo del Toro's long-developing adaptation of Frankenstein arrive in theaters (October 17) before going to Netflix a couple weeks later (November 7). Particularly in light of this win with KPop Demon Hunters, that will be a theatrical engagement that will have a lot of eyes on it. Perhaps we are on the verge of a very big shakeup in Hollywood?
Weapons Moves To Second Place But Crosses $100 Million Domestically
Prior to the theatrical debut of KPop Demon Hunters, it appeared as though Weapons had a good chance to perform a full sweep through August and keep its #1 spot in the Top 10. As it turns out, its streak of consecutive box office crowns has been broken – but just because it didn't win gold again doesn't mean that it didn't have another awesome weekend on the big screen.
The critically acclaimed new horror movie added another $15.6 million to its coffers domestically since Friday, which is a soft 36 percent drop from last weekend. The ticket sales have pushed the film into the nine-figure club, as Weapons became just the thirteenth feature this year to make over $100 million in the United States and Canada. That's pretty damn good considering that the total budget/acquisition cost for the project was $38 million.
Looking at foreign markets, Weapons isn't doing as well, but it's far from a disappointment. Worldwide so far, it has made $199.4 million, which is pretty damn epic for an original feature. As far as Hollywood releases go, the only other non-adaptation/non-franchise title in the Top 20 for 2025 is Ryan Coogler's Sinners, which ended its big screen run making $365.7 million.
Nobody 2 Takes A Big Fall In Its Second Weekend, Falling Three Spots In The Top 10
Lastly, I'll shine a light on Timo Tjahjanto's Nobody 2, which isn't having the box office run that was surely hoped for by folks at Universal Pictures. Thanks to some significant hangover competition, the action movie sequel starring Bob Odenkirk had to settle for third place and $9.3 million in its domestic debut last weekend, and things didn't go so well in its sophomore Friday-to-Sunday.
It can be said that Nobody 2 has gotten a positive reaction from audiences (reflected in the "B+" grade from CinemaScore), but it didn't succeed in getting any kind of word of mouth boost. Ticket sales dropped a scary 60 percent weekend-to-weekend, and the movie had to settle for sixth place (making $3.7 million brings its domestic total to $16.5 million during its run so far).
Looking ahead to next weekend, Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing, Jay Roach's The Roses, and Macon Blair's The Toxic Avenger will all be getting wide releases – but how will they shake up the Top 10? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see the results.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
