At the beginning of the year, there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Warner Bros. The studio was reeling from the critical and commercial disappointment of Joker: Folie à Deux, and it had a 2025 slate featuring a lot of question marks. Things got off to a rough start for WB this year with bombs such as The Alto Knights and Mickey 17, but then things turned around quickly. Beginning with A Minecraft Movie back in April, WB saw seven consecutive releases earn $40+ million domestically during their opening weekends, a feat no other studio had ever pulled off. Many were curious to see if director Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed One Battle After Another could continue that streak. It ultimately fell short, but there’s still reason for optimism.
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According to Deadline, One Battle After Another grossed $22.4 million domestically over its first three days. Its global debut stands at $48.5 million. While the figures are modest compared to WB’s hits from earlier in the year, One Battle After Another is the biggest opening of Anderson’s career. Now, the question becomes whether or not the film can recoup its $130-140 million production budget.
Can One Battle After Another Have Legs at the Box Office?
Despite the pedigree of the talent attached (the dream team of Anderson and star Leonardo DiCaprio), One Battle After Another was always seen as a risky proposition. Though he’s a beloved filmmaker amongst cinephiles, Anderson has never been a major box office draw. His highest-grossing film to date is There Will Be Blood, which grossed $77.1 million worldwide (a number One Battle After Another should clear soon). Whereas an auteur like Christopher Nolan can get audiences to show up for a three-hour biopic about the creator of the atomic bomb en masse, Anderson’s films have always had a much more muted commercial impact.
Still, there are encouraging signs that One Battle After Another will have staying power. For starters, it earned an “A” CinemaScore, illustrating that general audiences enjoy it as much as critics. That word of mouth will ideally give the film a boost over the next few weeks. Additionally, One Battle After Another has established itself as a frontrunner in this year’s awards race, buzz that should only make it more intriguing for viewers. What’s more is that Deadline notes WB plans on keeping One Battle After Another “in theaters for as long as possible.” So often these days, new releases have shortened theatrical windows and quickly hit home media formats. WB seems to be taking the opposite approach for One Battle After Another, putting it in position to keep earning money over an extended period of time. Interestingly, there’s “no word on a window to PVOD or streaming.”
There’s still a wave of upcoming fall releases One Battle After Another will have to contend with. Next week sees the release of fellow awards contender The Smashing Machine (which stars Dwayne Johnson), and genre titles like Tron: Ares and Black Phone 2 will be vying for ticket sales. So it’s not like One Battle After Another has the multiplex to itself and can run unopposed. However, it is going to keep premium format screens for another week before Tron comes out. It may not be easy, but there’s a path for One Battle After Another to break even — especially if word of mouth carries it as much as WB appears to be hoping.
Even if One Battle After Another falls short of its box office goal, it wouldn’t be a devastating development. Commercial performance shouldn’t have any real impact on its awards prospects (industry professionals have been raving about the film for weeks). Plus, WB is now in great shape financially. The studio was confident enough to push Mortal Kombat II back to 2026 because they’ve already turned an overall profit on film investments this year thanks to mega hits like Sinners and Superman, so executives weren’t relying on Anderson and DiCaprio to salvage a down year.
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