Lionsgate pulls off an unexpected victory at the box office as Now You See Me: Now You Don’t sweeps past Paramount’s high-profile The Running Man.
Strong Domestic and Global Start
Ruben Fleischer’s Now You See Me 3 opens at No. 1 with an estimated $21.3 million from 3,403 theaters. The film outperforms early projections after a solid $8.4 million Friday. Overseas, it shines with $54.2 million across 64 markets. That brings its global launch to $75.5 million, far stronger than The Running Man’s $28.2 million worldwide debut.
Audiences are responding well. Women make up 54 percent of domestic ticket buyers. U.S. moviegoers award the film a B+ CinemaScore and an 80 percent Rotten Tomatoes audience score, helping counter mixed critical reviews.
The Horsemen Return
The third film reunites Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher as the Four Horsemen. The sequel also introduces new magicians played by Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt and Dominic Sessa.
Now You See Me 3 enters the weekend tracking around $19 million. By contrast, The Running Man was expected to open between $24 million and $25 million, though Paramount later lowered projections after a $6.4 million Friday.
The Running Man Stumbles
Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, starring Glen Powell, lands in second place with $17 million domestic and $11.2 million overseas. Its $28.2 million global total is troubling for a film that cost $110 million to produce. The result marks Powell’s first box office setback after successes like Anyone But You, Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters. Wright also misses a much-needed hit following Last Night in Soho, which released just as Omicron surged.
The film was developed and greenlit before David Ellison’s Skydance assumed control of Paramount in August.
Two Films, Two Audiences
The weekend’s releases attract different crowds. The Running Man draws a 63 percent male audience, with 70 percent between ages 18 and 44. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t brings in a 54 percent female crowd, with 65 percent of viewers over 25.
Both films arrive with big expectations, but only one delivers the magic.
The top 12 movies of the weekend, as of Sunday, November 13, are as follows:
| # | Title | Distributor Name | Weekend Total | # of Locs | Loc Avg | Cume Total | % Change |
| 1 | Now You See Me: Now You Don’t | Lionsgate | $21,300,000 | 3,403 | $6,259 | $21,300,000 | |
| 2 | Running Man, The | Paramount | $17,000,000 | 3,534 | $4,810 | $17,000,000 | |
| 3 | Predator: Badlands | 20th Century Studios | $13,000,000 | 3,725 | $3,490 | $66,304,860 | -68% |
| 4 | Regretting You | Paramount | $4,000,000 | 2,709 | $1,477 | $44,959,000 | -40% |
| 5 | Black Phone 2 | Universal | $2,650,000 | 2,419 | $1,095 | $74,672,000 | -49% |
| 6 | Nuremberg | Sony Pictures Classics | $2,603,689 | 1,830 | $1,423 | $8,659,589 | -33% |
| 7 | Keeper | Neon Rated | $2,500,000 | 1,950 | $1,282 | $2,500,000 | |
| 8 | Sarah’s Oil | Amazon MGM Studios | $2,341,034 | 2,410 | $971 | $8,657,000 | -45% |
| 9-Tie | Bugonia | Focus Features | $1,600,000 | 1,253 | $1,277 | $15,678,000 | -53% |
| 9-Tie | Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc | Sony/Crunchyroll | $1,600,000 | 1,420 | $1,127 | $41,231,000 | -53% |
| 11 | Wicked | Universal | $1,200,000 | 2,195 | $547 | $474,431,000 | |
| 12 | Die My Love | MUBI | $977,160 | 1,437 | $680 | $4,973,754 | -63% |
