‘Now You See Me 3’ Conjures Lionsgate’s First Box Office No. 1 Since January, on Track for $21 Million+ Weekend

For the first time since January, Lionsgate is back atop the box office charts with “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” the third installment of the magician heist film, which earned $8.4 million from 3,403 screens and is now on pace for an opening weekend between $21 million and $24 million, beating Paramount’s R-rated “The Running Man,” which opened on 3,534 screens.

That’s in the same neighborhood as the $22.3 million opening weekend for “Now You See Me 2” in 2016. Carrying a reported $90 million budget, Lionsgate should clear the break-even point theatrically thanks to its usual strategy of funding higher budget films with foreign presales and co-production deals. For “Now You See Me…