The summer box office is going out not with a bang but a whimper. For the fourth straight weekend, Warner Bros.’ horror film Weapons finished at number one with $10.2M across the first three days of the long weekend. All titles combined for $65.6M, which is 29 percent below last year’s Labor Day frame when Deadpool and Wolverine led with $15.5M in weekend six.
Netflix and Sony’s animated sing-along Kpop: Demon Hunters was last weekend’s unofficial winner, but Netflix did not report grosses to Comscore. It‘s estimated that $18 two-day limited theatrical event was a one-and-done and did not continue into this weekend. It is difficult to recall another case where the top earner one weekend did not appear the next. Credit Netflix for choosing a slow late-summer corridor, but the “win” arrived against very limited competition.
Ironically, the top new movie was the 50th anniversary re-release of Jaws, which grossed $8.1 million from 3,200 North American theaters. This was the lowest-earning weekend since March 14-16 of this year, when totals reached $52.2 million, led by Novocaine at $ 8.8 million. Labor Day can be soft, but not always. In 2021, with COVID-19 receding, Disney opened Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings over the holiday and banked $75.4M in its first three days on the way to $224.5M domestic.
Weapons has now topped the official box office for four consecutive weekends. This weekend’s $10.2M is down 34 percent from last frame and lifts the film to $132.4M domestic and $234.6M worldwide after 24 days. The streak likely ends next weekend when Warner Bros. launches The Conjuring: Last Rites. Writer-director Zach Cregger told Variety he would “definitely” be interested in returning to the Weapons world at some point, noting he already has another idea. Still, it would not be his immediate next film. Here is how Weapons stacks up against 2025’s other breakout horror hit, Sinners:
Weapons vs. Sinners after 24 days
- Release dates: 8.8.2025 vs 4.18.2025
- Domestic locations: 3,202 vs 3,308
- Domestic opening: $43.5M vs $48.0M
- 2nd weekend: $25.0M (down 43 percent) vs $45.7M (down 5 percent)
- 3rd weekend: $15.6M (down 36 percent) vs $33.1M (down 28 percent)
- 4th weekend: $10.2M (down 34 percent) vs $22.1M (down 33 percent)
- 24-day domestic total: $132.4M vs $215.4M
- Domestic total: TBD vs $278.6M
- Worldwide total: TBD vs $365.9M
- Production budget: $38M vs $90M
- Rotten Tomatoes critics: 94 percent vs 97 percent
- Rotten Tomatoes audience: 85 percent vs 96 percent
Jaws at 50
Jaws: 50th Anniversary finished second with $8.1M. Steven Spielberg, then 27, shot on the open ocean off Martha’s Vineyard, which created endless variables and forced a “less is more” approach when the mechanical shark Bruce repeatedly failed. John Williams’ two-note motif became a synonym for looming danger. The production ballooned from a 55-day schedule and a $3.5M budget to 159 days and $7M.
Contemporary reactions spanned from Roger Ebert’s “sensationally effective action picture” to Gene Shalit’s “gimmicky scare show.” History sided with Ebert. The film became the top domestic grosser of all time at the time with $260.7M, before Star Wars arrived two years later. Adjusted, the 1975 worldwide tally equals roughly $2.9B today.
Jaws 50th Anniversary vs Jaws 1975
- Release dates: 8.29.2025 vs 6.20.1975
- Domestic locations: 3,200 vs 409
- Domestic opening: $8.1M vs $7.0M (about $42.6M adjusted)
- Production budget: $7M for both
- Rotten Tomatoes critics and audience: 97 percent and 91 percent for both
New and notable
Sony’s Caught Stealing, a darkly comic New York crime thriller from Darren Aronofsky, opened third with $7.8M. Critics are positive at 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences at 86 percent, but with a $40M budget, profitability is uncertain from this start. The film has drawn comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours for its one-night descent into chaos.
Disney’s Freakier Friday placed fourth with $6.5M, down 27 percent. After 24 days, it stands at $80.5M domestic and $130.9M worldwide, already past its approximate $105M break-even.
Searchlight’s The Roses debuted fifth with $6.4M. Reviews are mixed, with some positive, and the film will need approximately $65M worldwide to reach profitability on a $26M budget.
Year to date
As of August 28, 2025 the domestic box office totals $5.744B, which is 105 percent of the same point in 2024 and 76 percent of 2019.
Labor Day Weekend Box Office (Fri–Sun)
| Rank | Title | Wk | Theatres | Weekend | % Change | Avg per Theatre | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weapons (Warner Bros.) | 4 | 3,202 | $10,200,000 | -34% | $3,185 | $132,400,000 |
| 2 | Jaws: 50th Anniversary (Universal) | 1 | 3,200 | $8,100,000 | — | $2,531 | TBD |
| 3 | Caught Stealing (Sony) | 1 | 3,578 | $7,800,000 | — | $2,179 | $7,800,000 |
| 4 | Freakier Friday (Disney) | 4 | 3,975 | $6,500,000 | -27% | $1,636 | $80,500,000 |
| 5 | The Roses (Searchlight) | 1 | 2,700 | $6,400,000 | — | $2,370 | $6,400,000 |
| Total Weekend | $65,600,000 |
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