The box office has recently seen an intense battle between Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Transformers One, with the former emerging victorious despite close competition. Tim Burton’s sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, managed to retain the No. 1 spot for three consecutive weekends, generating $26 million from 4,172 theatres. Its total domestic earnings have reached $225 million, with global takings at $329.7 million.

On the other hand, Transformers One, Paramount and Hasbro’s animated movie, opened to disappointing numbers, grossing just $25 million from 3,978 locations. Internationally, it brought in $14 million, for a global total of $39 million, a weak start considering the movie’s $75 million production budget. Transformers One had been expected to open between $30 million and $40 million. The film is an origin story, directed by Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4), and features an all-star voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, and Scarlett Johansson. It is the first animated Transformers film since the 1986 movie, which had a similarly disappointing box office debut, although its reputation has improved over time. Despite a slow start, positive reviews and strong audience feedback may help the movie pick up momentum in the coming weeks. Still, it will face competition from other upcoming animated films like The Wild Robot, which releases on 27 September.

David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research notes that animated adaptations of live-action series rarely match the success of their predecessors. He adds that while Transformers is a big franchise, an animated version is unlikely to retain much of its live-action audience.

Another new release, Lionsgate’s Never Let Go, a survival thriller starring Halle Berry, debuted in fourth place, earning a meagre $4.5 million from 2,667 venues. It continues a streak of disappointing openings for Lionsgate following titles like The Killer’s Game and The Crow reboot. With mixed reviews and audience scores (61% on Rotten Tomatoes and a “C+” CinemaScore), its future prospects look dim, especially for a film with a $20 million budget.

Also opening was Demi Moore’s body-horror satire The Substance, which debuted in sixth place with $3.1 million from 1,949 theatres. Directed by Coralie Fargeat, the film revolves around an aging celebrity who takes a black-market drug to recapture her youth. Released by Mubi, the film premiered at Cannes, garnering some of the best reviews of Moore’s career.

Elsewhere, Speak No Evil, Universal and Blumhouse’s remake of the 2022 Danish thriller, slid to third place with $5.9 million, a 48% drop from its opening weekend. The horror film has grossed $21.45 million domestically and $42 million globally. Meanwhile, Disney and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine continues to perform well, grossing $3.8 million in its ninth weekend. The film has earned $627 million domestically and $1.317 billion globally, making it the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history.

A24’s A Different Man grossed $56,126 from four screens in New York and Los Angeles, with a strong per-screen average.

Overall, box office revenues remain 11.9% lower than at the same point in 2023 and 25.7% behind 2019. September has been a slow month, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice accounting for nearly half of domestic revenue. However, October looks promising with releases like Joker: Folie à Deux and Saturday Night poised to invigorate the market.