The 2025 domestic box office looked to be in serious doldrums for the first three months of the year. Boy, what a difference a few movies can make. Starting with A Minecraft Movie in early April, the 2025 North American box office has been on a hot streak. That continued this frame with the extraordinary launch of Final Destination: Bloodlines. The first Final Destination film in 14 years opened to an astonishing $50 million. That already makes it the fourth biggest entry in the series domestically (ahead of the second and fifth films) and almost doubles The Final Destination's $27.4 million bow, the previous biggest Final Destination domestic debut.
This is also noticeably ahead of the of the opening weekends of the last two Scream installments and, per The Numbers, only the ninth time in history an R-rated horror film has exceeded $50+ million on domestic opening weekend. Even with a hefty (by R-rated horror standards) $50 million budget, Bloodlines is well on its way to profitability. It’s impressive this horror saga still has so much juice left in it 25 years after that first Final Destination dropped. However, this franchise has a widespread and enduring fanbase, with set pieces like the log truck chaos from Final Destination 2 seared into the brains of horror geeks everywhere.
Bloodlines was also a deeply accessible horror film that newcomers could hop into without a problem. Save for one last Tony Todd appearance, nobody else from the other Final Destination titles came back. This wasn’t a feature promoting itself on fan-service to the already converted. Bloodlines had trailers and promos chock full of memorable imagery and darkly funny gags that could appeal to die-hard fans and newbies alike. Plus, Bloodlines apparently skewed very young on its opening weekend while women made up 48% of its opening day audience. Movies that bring in younger moviegoers and resonate with women (i.e. Barbie, Wicked, Inside Out 2) have been driving the post-March 2020 box office. Bloodlines continued that tradition.
This horror sequel’s extraordinary opening also continues an exceptional turnaround in just the last seven weeks for Warner Bros. Pictures. In 2024, the studios only bright spots were Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and two Legendary Pictures tentpoles it only co-financed. Botching Companion’s release and the whole Alto Knights debacle kicked off WB’s 2025 on a dismal note. Suddenly, though, everything’s coming up roses for the studio. A Minecraft Movie is one of WB’s biggest movies ever. Sinners is a cultural phenomenon. Now Bloodlines way outpaced pre-release expectations. Three very different WB titles have all dominated the box office over the last seven weekends. This is an incredible turnaround that, with buzzy titles like Superman and Weapons on the horizon, likely isn’t over yet.
In its third weekend, Thunderbolts* fell 49% to gross another $16.5 million. That's on par with the 48% third weekend drop of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, albeit that film was taking in $32,4 million in its third domestic frame. After 17 days of release, Thunderbolts* has grossed $155.4 million domestically. A domestic finish between $185 and $195 million looks to be in the cards. Underwhelming overseas numbers, meanwhile, mean this one won't clear $400 million worldwide.
The power of Sinners can't stop, won't stop. This title grossed another $15.42 million in its fifth weekend of release, a tiny 30% dip from last weekend. Ryan Coogler's modern masterpiece has grossed $240.79 million domestically. Another Warner Bros. hit, A Minecraft Movie, eased 23% this frame to gross another $5.87 million for a $416.64 million domestic total. Warner Bros. has three of the four biggest movies in North America this weekend, an outstanding achievement vividly encapsulating the studio's tremendous turnaround. Speaking of holdovers, The Accountant 2 continued to post solid holds, as it dipped just 26% to gross another $4.95 million for a $59.07 million domestic total. If it doesn’t crumble against Mission: Impossible next weekend, it might just get past $70 million in North America.
While WB’s firmly escaped the gravitational pull of its crummy 2024, Lionsgate is still stuck in the box office doldrums. Its latest title, Hurry Up Tomorrow (a film it just bought distribution rights to), cratered with only $3.3 million. The Weeknd fans came out in droves for those Wednesday early access showings (it grossed $1.3 million at those screenings)…and then word of mouth was so toxic everyone else stayed far away. Between this and The Idol, The Weeknd clearly just needs to focus on the tunes. Not even post-Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Jenna Ortega could get audiences to give Tomorrow a chance.
Friendship had a divine expansion into 60 theaters this weekend as it grossed $1.4 million for a phenomenal $23,338 per theater average. Reaching the seven-digit weekend gross range while playing in under 100 theaters is always impressive and this second Friendship frame is no exception. To boot, Friendship was the seventh-biggest movie in North America this frame despite playing in so few theaters. Friendship expands into wide release on Friday and (after grossing $2.04 million in ten days of limited release) it could be poised to break out as a sleeper hit.
Falling 63% this weekend, Clown in a Cornfield grossed $1.33 million for a $6.5 million domestic total. Not a superb hold, but this movie cost just under $1 million to make and had a tiny marketing budget. Everything’s gravy for Cornfield as far as box office numbers go. Among IFC releases, Clown in a Cornfield is already the sixth-biggest release ever from this label (which did release Cornfield under the RLJ Entertainment moniker).
Rounding out the top ten were two April 2025 holdovers. Until Dawn dropped 59% to gross another $800,000 for a $19.62 million domestic total. The Amateur, meanwhile, dipped only 39% to gross another $712,000 for a $40.14 million domestic haul. Last weekend's wide release newcomers did not have strong holds this frame. Shadow Force, for instance, plummeted 70% to gross another $650,000 for a $3.56 million domestic haul. Fight or Flight had an even worse hold of 74%, bringing it down to $521,989 for a $3.24 million domestic total.
Caught by the Tides expanded to 16 locations and grossed $45,338 for a $2,834 per theater average and $89,501 domestic total. Quietly, A Nice Indian Boy (now in its seven the weekend of release) has been doing some steady business buoyed by great word-of-mouth. The feature grossed another $31,172 this frame, roughly on par with last weekend. This is the third consecutive weekend where it's grossed between $30 and $32,000. Having been available on PVOD for a few weeks now, audiences are still showing up for Indian Boy in the few theaters it’s playing in. Now having grossed $822,117 domestically, there's a chance this title could just get past $1 million domestically if it holds well over the next few weekends. What a great leggy run showing the value of slow-burn theatrical limited releases.
The top ten movies this weekend grossed $100 million, an admittedly middling sum for a mid-May frame. Final Destination: Bloodlines opened great for a mid-May feature (it was only slightly behind John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum’s mid-May 2019 bow), however, Thunderbolts* hasn’t been nearly as big as other first weekend of May MCU films. That means there isn’t a gargantuan superhero film like past May monsters like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 or Captain America: Civil War to carry the marketplace. The lack of any big second weekend of May titles (not to mention this frame only housing one new wide release) also kept this weekend from hitting its fullest potential.
May 2025 has already grossed a little over $420 million domestically and there's a massive Memorial Day frame yet to come. Though this month won't come close to hit the $1.01-$1.07 billion heights of almost every May from 2009 to 2019, it should comfortably end up in the same range as the $774.05-785.9 hauls of May's 2022 and 2023. A few extra movies (like an animated family movie this weekend or a romantic drama last weekend, for instance) would really further help the marketplace, since the movies that are out there right now are crushing it. That includes smaller titles like Friendship and A Nice Indian Boy. People want to go to theaters, you just have to put stuff into multiplexes.
Even with a dearth of fresh releases, though, the incredible Bloodlines performance is a welcome further jolt of life to a Minecraft/Sinners-boosted marketplace. How ironic for a franchise so obsessed with death.