‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ beats ‘Transformers One,’ snags No. 1 at box office

The Autobots and Decepticons are no match for the undead. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has once again snagged No. 1, beating out box office newcomer Transformers One.

The long-awaited sequel surpassed the animated prequel by a mere $1 million, reports Comscore, earning an estimated $26 million at the domestic box office during its third weekend in theaters. This brings the film’s domestic tally to $226 million for a worldwide total of $329 million.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a followup to the 1988 classic, which sees Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Michael Keaton reprising their roles while welcoming Jenna Ortega as Astrid, the rebellious daughter of Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, who accidentally opens a portal to the Afterlife. With her life in danger, Lydia turns to a certain trickster for assistance.

In less gothic but more action-packed news, Transformers One arrived to $25 million domestically for a global debut of $39 million. The animated entry into the blockbuster franchise boasts a star-studded cast to tell the origin story of brother-in-arms Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), on their path to becoming sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron. 

The all-star voice cast also includes Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm, and Keegan-Michael Key.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly back in July, director Josh Cooley said it was crucial for the film to communicate the “heartbreak” behind D-16 becoming the ruthless power-obsessed villain that fans know so well.

“The thing that starts to drive a wedge between him and Orion Pax is that the world is not what they thought it was, and they then start to form two different views on how to solve the problem,” Cooley explained. “And these two versions just naturally butt heads against each other. They’re really trying not to get pulled apart, and that’s where the friction comes in during the second part of the movie where things get real and scary choices are made that really will affect everything.”

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Coming in at No. 3, the Blumhouse thriller Speak No Evil added $5.9 million to its domestic tally of $21.4 million. Abroad, the James McAvoy led film picked up $7.3 million, bringing its global total to $42 million. Written and directed by James Watkins — and based on the 2022 Danish film of the same name — Speak No Evil follows a family’s trip to visit their vacation friends at an idyllic country home. But as they endure a series of misunderstandings, their dream holiday morphs into a psychological nightmare.

The Fall fear-fest continues with the Halle Berry-led horror film, Never Let Go, which debuted to $4.5 million domestically. Hailing from horror filmmaker Alexandre Aja (Crawl, Horns, The Hills Have Eyes), the film stars Berry as Momma, who lives in the post-apocalyptic deep South with her 10-year-old fraternal twin sons, Samuel and Nolan (Anthony B. Jenkins and Percy Daggs IV, respectively). When they dare to venture away from their home, Momma instructs the boys to protect themselves from evil by tethering themselves to the house with rope. As the title warns, they’re told to “never let go,”

But, as Berry previously hinted to EW, everything may not be as it seems. “What you question about Momma is, is she really crazy? Was she always crazy? Was she driven crazy? And the big question is: Is everything real or not? Is what she’s seeing real? Is she schizophrenic? Has she gone mad? And the boys start to question if it’s real — and that’s when sort of mayhem starts.”

Rounding out fifth is one of the summer’s biggest earners,  Deadpool & Wolverine. The superhero flick, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as the titular anti-heroes, has earned another $3.9 million in its ninth week of release, bringing its domestic total to $627 million domestic ($1.3 billion globally).

Just missing out on the top 5, despite its limited release, is Coralie Fargeat’s, The Substance, the Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley led film that sees a fading celebrity make use of a black market drug to create a younger, better version of herself. The body horror flick debuted to $3.1 million following a buzzy run through the festival circuit.

The stars previously told EW that the demands of the film constantly pushed them to the brink, both physically and emotionally.

“Every goddamned day,” Qualley said. “Even the dancing [in the workout video portions] was brutal.”

Moore added, “We’d hit the weekends and, both of us, did we go out anywhere? We didn’t do anything. On rest time, we’d text, I’d go to her apartment. It was two floors down, and we’d be like, ‘I can’t f—ing move.’”