Warner Bros enters the post-Labor Day frame with Practical Magic 2, a legacy sequel tracking toward a $58 million to $63 million global start that the studio hopes will extend a seven-year hold on the September box office crown. The picture opens in 4,000 domestic theaters and 77 overseas territories, notably excluding China, with the studio modeling a $30 million to $35 million North American launch and $18 million to $23 million abroad. Summer finished at a record $4.76 billion stateside, and Warner has owned the weekend since It: Chapter One in 2017.
The September franchise
Warner claims the top four September openings in domestic history: It: Chapter One at $123.4 million, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at $111 million, It: Chapter Two at $91 million, and The Conjuring: Last Rites at $84 million. Practical Magic 2 is not expected to approach those levels. The studio’s internal range sits well below the $76.7 million debut of The Devil Wears Prada 2, which legged out to $220.5 million domestic and $693 million global. But the original Practical Magic opened to just $13.1 million in 1998 and finished at $94.4 million worldwide, enduring on HBO Max viewership that ultimately green-lit a sequel 26 years later.
The tracking signals
First-choice tracking shows the sequel running 100 percent above Warner’s Wuthering Heights, which opened to $32.8 million, but 40 percent below Sandra Bullock’s The Lost City, which debuted at $30.4 million. The audience skews heavily to women over 25, followed by women under 25. Critics are unmoved at 34 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, though they rated the original 30 percent. The PG-13 film begins Thursday previews at 2 PM with PLF and Dolby screens in play.
The cost and the comps
The production carries a net $75 million budget before prints and advertising. Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, and Kelly Marcel adapted Alice Hoffman’s 2021 novel The Book of Magic, with Stephanie Bier directing; Griffin Dunne helmed the original. Warner’s confidence rests on a dedicated millennial and Gen-Z female core rather than broad breakout appeal. Whether that core converts a $30 million floor into a $40 million ceiling will determine if the weekend holds for the studio or merely survives.
The rest of the frame
Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day is on track to surpass Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $936.6 million domestic record either this weekend or by mid-week. Neon’s Cannes-premiered Hope, starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, opens at 1,560 sites targeting a single-digit five-day figure with a 78 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Angel Studios’ Runner, starring Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson, eyes similar territory at 2,000 locations with a 67 percent score. Focus Features’ The Uprising, an Andrew Garfield Robin Hood film from Paul Greengrass, books 1,500 sites for an estimated $5 million start.