Here Are the Weekend Box Office Hits for This Weekend, with ‘One Battle After Another’ Leading the Pack

A busy late-September frame mixed fresh openers with sturdy horror holdovers and a fan-favorite re-release, with premium formats and special engagements adding meaningful lift. Wide releases leaned on recognizable franchises, branded family fare, and buzzy auteurs, while specialty titles found space with targeted platforming and festival momentum.

Below, you’ll find a quick, fact-forward rundown on each title in the Top 15—who made it, what it’s about, how it’s rolling out, and how it’s performing—so you can see how the weekend really took shape.

15. ‘Freakier Friday’ (2025)

Disney’s sequel to ‘Freaky Friday’ reunites Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan under director Nisha Ganatra, with Jordan Weiss scripting and production by Walt Disney Pictures alongside partners; Disney’s materials and databases cite an August 8 U.S. release and an approximately 111-minute runtime. Cast additions include Julia Butters and Manny Jacinto.

The title continued wide runs into early fall with eventual post-theatrical plans typical for Disney’s 2025 slate; box-office trackers list cumulative domestic and international grosses building through late September as the film approaches its ancillary window.

14. ‘Weapons’ (2025)

New Line/Warner Bros.’ ensemble horror from writer-director Zach Cregger opened August 8 in U.S. theaters with a listed 2h08m runtime and a multi-thread narrative centered on a mass disappearance in a small town; cast includes Julia Garner and Josh Brolin among others. Official tickets pages, databases, and trailers confirm release specs and credits.

Home-media updates point to a 4K UHD release dated October 14 after an early digital window, while recent interviews confirm active development on a prequel centered on Aunt Gladys as the franchise expands. Current critical summaries remain broadly positive on review aggregators.

13. ‘The Senior’ (2025)

Angel Studios’ sports drama, directed by Rod Lurie, tells the true story of Mike Flynt’s return to college football decades after leaving his team; the studio’s official page lists the September 19 nationwide release and provides synopsis and credits. Trade coverage announced Angel’s acquisition and dating earlier in the summer.

The film is positioned for faith- and sports-community outreach with targeted screenings and grassroots partnerships, and continues standard theatrical play with an expected PVOD transition typical of Angel’s recent releases.

12. ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ (2025)

Kogonada’s romantic fantasy—starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell—is a Columbia/Sony release with a 109-minute runtime; credits include cinematography by Benjamin Loeb, editing by Susan E. Kim and Jonathan Alberts, and an original score by Joe Hisaishi. The official site confirms theatrical ticketing for the U.S. rollout beginning September 19.

Music trade notes and album listings confirm Hisaishi’s score, his first for a Western live-action feature, with the soundtrack now available on major platforms. Specialty venues continue week-two runs alongside nationwide multiplex play.

11. ‘Eleanor the Great’ (2025)

Scarlett Johansson’s feature directorial debut, written by Tory Kamen, stars June Squibb with Erin Kellyman, Jessica Hecht, and Chiwetel Ejiofor; Sony Pictures Classics handles the North American release, with the official film site listing tickets and showtimes. The film premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard earlier this year.

The specialty opening landed on September 26 in North America, with future international play via TriStar in some territories; coverage outlines an eventual Pay-1 streaming window consistent with Sony’s recent SPC titles.

10. ‘Dead of Winter’ (2025)

Vertical Entertainment released the snowbound survival-thriller ‘Dead of Winter’ with an official site confirming the September 26 theatrical date and nationwide showtimes. Listings describe a plot about a woman who stumbles onto a kidnapping in northern Minnesota and is forced into a high-stakes rescue far from help.

The film opened in limited release with targeted bookings and late-September marketing beats centered on trailer drops and regional rollout; exhibitors show standard theatrical engagements with possible accelerated PVOD thereafter, consistent with Vertical’s recent patterns.

9. ‘Spider-Man’/‘Spider-Man 2.1’/‘Spider-Man 3’ (2002–2007)

Fathom Entertainment’s special engagement—presented with Sony—returned Sam Raimi’s original trilogy to theaters, including the theatrical debut of the extended ‘Spider-Man 2.1’ in 4K. The schedule set ‘Spider-Man’ for Sept. 26 & Oct. 3, ‘Spider-Man 2.1’ for Sept. 27 & Oct. 4, and ‘Spider-Man 3’ for Sept. 28 & Oct. 5 at participating venues.

Major chains list runtimes and dates for each entry, with Fandango and exhibitor sites handling ticketing. Editorial roundups and trade coverage framed the program as a fan-forward celebration of Tobey Maguire’s era with limited encore showings the following weekend.

8. ‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ (2025)

Focus Features’ third and concluding ‘Downton Abbey’ film is directed by Simon Curtis from Julian Fellowes’ screenplay, with returning cast members including Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, and Jim Carter; additional names cited across materials include Paul Giamatti and Dominic West. Official and database listings place the film in the 123–124 minute range with a September 12 U.S. release.

Theatrically, the title continues in wide release with a traditional specialty-friendly rollout cadence and likely Peacock streaming later per distributor corporate ties, though on-sale dates may vary by region. Recent coverage underscored that this film closes the original Crawley family saga.

7. ‘The Long Walk’ (2025)

Lionsgate’s adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian ‘The Long Walk’ is directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by JT Mollner, with a U.S. theatrical release dated September 12 and an official site handling ticketing and materials. Cast lists include Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill among the ensemble.

Rotten Tomatoes and editorial coverage highlight a positive critical response as the film continues wide play, with industry sites noting typical Lionsgate PVOD timing following theatrical—generally within several weeks, subject to confirmation. Festival notes indicate it will close Sitges in October.

6. ‘Him’ (2025)

Universal’s horror-drama from director Justin Tipping—produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw—stars Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox, and Tim Heidecker, and clocks in at around 96 minutes. Official listings emphasize that while it uses a sports backdrop, it is not a conventional sports movie.

The film’s second weekend saw a sharp drop after a wide opening, with domestic grosses in the low-20s cumulatively per public ledgers. Marketing leaned into psychological horror elements and original IP positioning within Universal’s fall slate.

5. ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie – Infinity Castle’ (2025)

Crunchyroll’s theatrical feature adapts the “Infinity Castle” arc of Koyoharu Gotouge’s saga, with the official site confirming a September 12 U.S. launch and nationwide ticketing. The property returns to large-format auditoriums in select cities and continues the franchise’s strategy of dubbed and subtitled screenings to maximize reach.

After a front-loaded first two frames typical for anime event pics, the film remained in thousands of locations this weekend with premium-format availability varying by market. The title builds on the series’ global fanbase and prior strong North American theatrical outings.

4. ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ (2025)

Lionsgate’s sequel in Renny Harlin’s new ‘Strangers’ trilogy stars Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, and Ema Horvath, running about 98 minutes with a reported sub-$10M budget. The film premiered in Hollywood on September 16 and opened wide in the U.S. on September 26, continuing the masked-stalker saga launched by 2024’s ‘Chapter 1’.

Domestic weekend estimates align with a modest series entry; The Numbers lists a roughly $6M worldwide start off a wide U.S. release, with early international markets contributing incremental totals ahead of broader rollout.

3. ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ (2025)

New Line/Warner Bros.’ latest mainline chapter reunites Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, with Michael Chaves directing and Benjamin Wallfisch composing; the film was written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Studio materials and listings confirm a September 5 U.S. theatrical date, IMAX availability, and a 2-hour-plus runtime.

In its fourth weekend, the film continued wide play domestically and abroad; cumulative global grosses have cleared the $400M mark per box-office trackers, making it one of the year’s strongest horror performers. Premium-format bookings and franchise awareness have supported robust holds relative to genre norms.

2. ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie’ (2025)

DreamWorks Animation expands the preschool brand to theaters with a feature directed by Ryan Crego and released by Universal, featuring Laila Lockhart Kraner among the voice cast. The studio positions the film as a musical fantasy comedy that extends the Netflix series created by Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey, with the official site handling ticketing and showtimes.

Trade recaps pegged the domestic opening in the mid-teens and framed the global start around the high-teens, with family matinees and dubbed versions supporting international play. Ongoing expansion is focused on school-holiday corridors and ancillary merchandising tie-ins typical for the franchise.

1. ‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s darkly satirical political action-thriller is produced by Ghoulardi Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, with a creative team that includes cinematographer Michael Bauman, editor Andy Jurgensen, and composer Jonny Greenwood; the ensemble features Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, and Teyana Taylor. The film’s development drew on themes from Thomas Pynchon’s ‘Vineland’, and it played premium formats including 70mm and IMAX in select locations. Reported runtime falls in the 160-170 minute range depending on source.

Weekend estimates put the domestic debut at $22.4M and international at roughly $26M for a $48.5M global start, with IMAX contributing a notable share; reporting also pegs the production budget in the $130M-$175M corridor. The rollout continues internationally through early October with awards-season positioning to follow.

Tell us which of these titles you saw and what stood out to you about this weekend’s lineup in the comments!