Writing about box office for the last decade-plus here on CinemaBlend, I've come to the understanding that the true mark of success for a film is its second weekend. With enough promotion and brand recognition, practically any standout release during a given year can top the box office during its opening – but retaining that audience is the real challenge. There are plenty of flash in the pan/frontloaded blockbusters; if a movie can successfully generate positive word of mouth and keep the public excited about it even with new titles arriving on the big screen as competition, it can be understood as true hit.
In that context, Zach Cregger's Weapons is most definitely a true hit. The hyped film made an impressive debut seven days ago, successfully outperforming industry estimates and earning back its production budget/acquisition cost in just three days – but only now can we call it one of the best box office stories of the year thanks to its impressive ticket sales in its second weekend. The new horror movie managed to crush Timo Tjahjanto's Nobody 2, and it did so with a minimal weekend-to-weekend dip. Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
