Two Disney movies sit atop the box office charts during the second worst weekend of the year to date. 20th Century Studios' Barbarian will take the top spot. The horror movie earned $3.8 million on Friday. It's projected to take in $9 million by the end of the weekend. Critics are loving the movie, which has a 92% certified fresh score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus reads, "Smart, darkly humorous, and above all scary, Barbarian offers a chilling and consistently unpredictable thrill ride for horror fans." ComicBook.com's Kofi Outlaw gave Barbarian a positive if not glowing 3.5-out-of-5 review. He writes:
"Barbarian is a dark-horse horror movie release that actually deserves theatrical viewing – not for the visuals it offers, but for the audience experience. Cregger constructed his descent into the demented and macabre with a horror connoisseur's confidence in measuring how each moment will play to the crowd. And it definitely is a fun run to take, together."
Star Studios' North American release of Indian blockbuster Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva lands in second place. The film earned $1.9 million on Friday and is headed to a 3-day total in the range of $3.5 million – $4.5 million.
However, with chart-toppers in the single digits, it's bad news for cinemas. The total gross for all films this weekend is expected to be only $39.9 million. Though Spider-Man: No Way Home's return to theaters over Labor Day Weekend gave theaters some lift, not long before that was the weakest of the summer. These numbers are all mixed in with news that Regal Cinemas' parent company is filing for bankruptcy.
The complete list of top 10 films at the box office this weekend is in the works.