FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES | HURRY UP TOMORROW openings | Horror genre snapshot | Where we are now | May 16 to 18, 2025 weekend
Opening weekend box office, charts and commentary.
The current weekend: May 16 to 18, 2025
1) Final Destination: Bloodlines opening
- This is a sensational opening for the 6th episode of a horror series. Pending final numbers, the weekend figure is the biggest horror episode 6 start of all time. Scream VI opened to $44.4 million in March 2023 — this is higher.
The est. opening is nearly three times the average for the genre, and two and a half times the last Final Destination opening in August 2011. It shatters the best opening of the series in 2009 by around +68% (#4 opened to $27.4m).
Critic's reviews are sensational and the audience score is excellent for a horror pic (a B+ CinemaScore). The series has been very good overseas, doing 70.0% and 64.3% of its business abroad the last two outings, respectively — that's outstanding (see note below*):
- Final Destination started modestly in March 2000 with $112.9 million worldwide. It peaked in 2009 with episode 4 ($186.2m), before easing to $157.9m the last time in 2011 (a -15% drop). Only 9 horror series have made it to 6 episodes — that's elite company. Elevating a series like this in its 26th year is superb.
(*The last two Final Destinations have been smashes in Russia. In 2011 the film finished with $19.2m there, and in 2009 it did $14m. The studios have not been distributing in Russia. Assuming Bloodlines does not play there, the international numbers are going to reflect that market’s absence.)
Horror genre snapshot and film counts
- Here's a snapshot of what's going on with horror movies…
During the last two years, there's been an increase in the number of small, original horror titles — you can see it below. That's brought an increase in under $3m domestic openings, but these films are generally low-budget, sometimes micro-budget, so many of the releases are still financially viable:
- There's terrific creative energy in horror filmmaking right now. The low budgets require ingenuity and talent. It’s an excellent seedbed for new writers and directors, and that’s good for the industry. The horror audience is young and travels in packs. If it's cool, they'll be there, it doesn't matter what the movie cost to make.
2) Hurry Up Tomorrow opening
- This is an interesting psychological thriller starring the popular musician The Weeknd, based on his 6th studio album of the same name. But the film isn’t working — critics’ reviews are poor and the audience rating is weak (a C- CinemaScore).
The weekend figures are below average across the board for a suspense thriller:
- Lionsgate has released a number of pictures briefly and inexpensively on their way to streaming, and this looks like another quick turn. The BO figures are not big, but the production costs are reasonable (an est. $15 million here). It works as a loss-leader for ancillary business, and in this case it also supports The Weeknd’s current concert tour.
Where we are now
- So far, the May box office has moved sideways — better than last year but without improvement against the pre-pandemic average.
The big titles arrive next weekend for the Memorial Day holiday: Disney's Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible. Projections are huge: Well over $100 million and around $65 million over three days, respectively. That's going to jolt the market and be an improvement versus pre-pandemic.
- On Wednesday, we're going to catch up on new franchise series films. The state of ongoing franchises is solid (we looked at that a few weeks ago here), but most franchises eventually wear out and finish, so the industry needs a constant re-supply of new stories with series potential. We've got those numbers.
Our last two posts were:
THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS | The Knives Out trilogy, first a theatrical hit and then two streaming sequels | May 14, 2025 here
CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD | SHADOW FORCE | FIGHT OR FLIGHT openings | Where we are now | May 9 to 11, 2025 weekend here