Anime rides again atop the domestic box office, as “Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc” looks to open ahead of fellow new releases, the Bruce Springsteen biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere” and the Colleen Hoover adaptation “Regretting You.”
The R-rated “Chainsaw Man” went brrr with $8.5 million across Friday and preview screenings from 3,003 locations. The feature, which serves as a big-screen continuation of the manga adaptation’s first season, is headed to an opening bow of $15.5 million. It’s available in both subtitled and dubbed versions, and gets a boost from playing Imax and other premium large format auditoriums, which carry higher ticket prices.
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It’s another win for Sony’s anime label Crunchyroll, which delivered its parent studio’s biggest opening of the year in September with a historic $70.6 million start for “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle.” “Chainsaw Man” will only hit a fraction of that blockbuster figure, but that a new anime release is again leading charts, above two English language features from traditional Hollywood studios, speaks to how theatrical appetites have shifted over recent years.
Reviews are strong for “Chainsaw Man,” but, more importantly, the audience loves it, as indicated by the “A” grade polled by moviegoer survey firm Cinema Score. Anime is almost always very front-loaded at the box office, with most fans rushing to opening weekend screenings. The bulk of the North American gross will likely come this weekend, but “Chainsaw Man” is already sitting pretty for producer Mappa with $61 million in overseas grosses.
It’s a tighter race for second place, with “Regretting You” narrowly leading ahead of the sophomore outing of “Black Phone 2.”
Paramount’s “Regretting You” kicked off with $5.2 million across Friday and previews, including special fan event screenings that featured a live cast Q&A. The Josh Boone-directed generations-spanning drama, produced by Constantin Films, is now projecting a $13 million opening.
That would come out ahead of tracking, which had forecast a debut between $8 million to $10 million. It’s not the box office force that “It Ends With Us,” the first Colleen Hoover feature adaptation, was in August 2024. That Blake Lively starrer launched to a $24 million opening day and a $50 million debut — against a slim $25 million production budget. “Regretting You” cost $30 million to produce.
Reviews have been comparatively rough for “Regretting You” too, while Cinema Score turned in a middling “B” grade. (Comp to the “A-” earned by “It Ends With Us.”) The ensemble drama, which is rated PG-13 and stars Mckenna Grace, Mason Thames, Allison Williams, Dave Franco and more, is the first of a wave of Hoover adaptations on the way. “Verity” and “Reminders of Him” remain on the slate from other studios.
Bowing in fourth on Friday, “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” which stars “The Bear” lead Jeremy Allen White belting out as the Boss, earned $3.5 million across opening day, including preview screenings, from 3,460 locations. It’s looking to land within its pre-weekend projections for a debut between $8 million and $12 million, though it’ll have to show some fight to hit the eight-digits side. The PG-13-rated biopic is also sharing Imax and other PLFs with “Chainsaw Man.”
The comparison for 20th Century Studios’ “Springsteen” is last year’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” — another period piece music drama, which hailed from fellow Disney label Searchlight Pictures. That Timothée Chalamet vehicle debuted with a slightly higher $11.6 million three-day, before riding Oscar buzz through the holidays and the first weeks of January to leg out to $75 million domestic and $140 million globally.
“Deliver Me From Nowhere,” directed by Scott Cooper, has similar awards aspirations, after holding film festival premieres attended by Springsteen himself at Telluride, New York and AFI Fest. But reviews have been lukewarm compared to “A Complete Unknown” and the film won’t have the benefit of playing the holiday season. Audiences do like the movie, with Cinema Score turning in a “B+” grade. But at a considerable production budget of $55 million, “Deliver Me From Nowhere” will have to vie to stay relevant to moviegoers in the weeks ahead.
Still with a chance for second, Universal’s release of “Black Phone 2” added $3.7 million on Friday and is headed to a second weekend of $12 million for a 56% drop from its opening. The horror sequel looks to push its domestic total to $48 million through Sunday, pacing a hair ahead of its 2022 predecessor ($47 million through 10 days). It already ranks as the highest-grossing North American release of the year for Blumhouse — a bounce-back after fielding a slate of theatrical nonstarters earlier in 2025, though “Black Phone 2” is also the most expensive of the lot at a $30 million production budget.
Disney’s “Tron: Ares” looks to round out the top five, earning another $1.3 million on Friday to fall 48% from its daily total a week ago. Now in its third weekend of release, the sci-fi revival has dropped off fast in theaters and earned just $59 million in North America — a dismal result for an IP play with an $180 million production budget.
Also opening this weekend, Neon is bowing its horror mystery “Shelby Oaks” in 1,823 locations. The original R-rated feature, which has so-so reviews, earned about $1.1 million across Friday and previews and seems headed for a seventh place bow.
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