By Janet H. Cho
Walt Disney's Predator: Badlands dominated the box office this weekend, hauling in a higher-than-expected $40 million in the U.S. and Canada, and another $40 million in international ticket sales.
The showing is a positive sign for Hollywood heading into the crucial holiday moviegoing season as movie studios and theater chains try to overcome the worst October box office sales in decades.
The industry's fourth-quarter box office sales "will need to rely on a very back-end driven release slate to meet expectations," Roth senior research analyst Eric Handler said in a recent note. Quarter-to-date revenue was down 8.8% from a year ago, with October revenue of $428 million "the lowest for the month since 1997," he said.
Predator, the action adventure thriller from Disney and 20th Century Studios, stars Elle Fanning as a damaged synthetic and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as the young predator exiled from his clan who are searching for the ultimate, unkillable adversary. Director Dan Trachtenberg previously directed and co-wrote Prey in 2022 and the animated Predator: Killer of Killers.
Predator: Badlands' take was more than the $25 million expected.
"This was a much-welcomed over-indexing by Predator: Badlands that delivered bigger-than-expected results amidst great reviews and positive fan sentiment in favor of the Predator franchise that launched way back in 1987," said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore's head of marketplace trends.
"This is a great lead in for what promises to be an excellent month of November for the industry," starting with two high-profile newcomers next weekend -- Lionsgate's crime thriller Now You See Me: Now You Don't and Paramount's action adventure The Running Man -- which he expects will inject some much-needed momentum into the moviegoing marketplace after a "dismal" October.
Paramount Studios drama Regretting You sold $7.13 million in its third weekend to take second place in domestic ticket sales. It has sold $38.6 million in domestic box office to date, and nearly $80 million in cumulative global box office, according to Comscore.
In third place was Universal Studios' horror film Black Phone 2, which sold $5.3 million in its fourth weekend. The R-rated film has racked up $70.1 million in domestic sales through Sunday, and global sales to date of $120.45 million.
Amazon MGM Studios' Sarah's Oil, the biographical drama about 11-year-old Sarah Rector, opened in fourth place with $4.46 million in domestic ticket sales, and Sony Pictures Classics' historical drama Nuremberg, about the trials of the defeated Nazi criminals, came in fifth place with $4.15 million in box office.
This weekend's $83.1 million in domestic box office brings the year-to-date total to $7.17 billion, or 3.1% higher than the $6.96 billion this time last year, according to Comscore. The biggest hit of 2025 is still A Minecraft Movie, with $423.95 million.
Disney reports earnings on Thursday, including the final time it reports quarterly streaming-service subscriber numbers.
Predator: Badlands also scored a $10.8 million global IMAX weekend.
Dergarabedian said that coming IMAX films include: Trafalgar's j-hope: Hope on the Stage, with the BTS star performing songs from "Jack In The Box, Hope On The Street Vol. 1" and other BTS hits, opening Tuesday in 43 markets worldwide starting on Tuesday. Paramount's action thriller The Running Man opens on Friday.
Just as the 2024 films opening before Thanksgiving -- Universal Pictures' Wicked, Paramount's Gladiator II, and Disney's Moana 2 -- contributed to the biggest five-day Thanksgiving frame ever, Dergarabedian said hopes are similarly high for this year's Wicked: For Good and Sony Pictures' Sisu: Road to Revenge, both opening Nov. 21, and Disney's Zootopia 2 opening on Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving.
With both Wicked: For Good and Zootopia 2 having the potential for $100 million opening weekends, "they cannot get to the multiplex soon enough, " he said.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 09, 2025 16:56 ET (21:56 GMT)
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