The first weekend of October saw contrasting cinematic fortunes at the U.S. box office. Pop icon Taylor Swift reigned supreme once again with her event-film Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, while Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, despite glowing reviews and early Oscar chatter, stumbled in its second frame. The rest of the top ten reflected a familiar pattern — genre holdovers, family titles, and a steady presence from re-releases and horror sequels that continue to prop up the autumn box office.
One Battle After Another: A Prestige Triumph Struggling to Hold Its Ground
For a film that arrived on a wave of critical acclaim, One Battle After Another is already showing signs of fatigue. After opening strong last weekend, the film suffered a steep 49.4% drop in its sophomore outing, collecting $11.1 million from 3,634 screens for a per-theater average of $3,061. Its domestic total now stands at $42.75 million, with a global tally hovering around $101.6 million — a figure buoyed largely by international markets.
Despite this respectable worldwide figure, the film’s financial equation remains worrying. With production costs estimated between $130 million and $175 million, Anderson’s ambitious war-drama needs far sturdier legs to justify its scale. Domestically, audience engagement has waned rapidly, suggesting that while critics embraced its complex storytelling and thematic audacity, mainstream audiences have been slower to connect.
Compounding matters, the arrival of a major pop-culture juggernaut in Taylor Swift’s theatrical showcase diverted casual moviegoers toward something more celebratory and immediate. For a serious, adult-skewing drama like One Battle After Another, the overlap was minimal — and fatal.
The Weekend’s Top 3: Swift’s Command, Anderson’s Slide, and A24’s New Challenger
At the top, Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl dominated the domestic market with $33 million across 3,702 theaters, averaging an impressive $8,914 per screen. Released exclusively through AMC Theatres, the event-film doubled as both concert and celebration, extending the pop star’s theatrical legacy after The Eras Tour shattered records last year.
In second place, One Battle After Another added $11.1 million as it entered its crucial second week. Despite the decline, it remains the year’s most talked-about prestige release — though its performance underscores how challenging the U.S. market has become for adult-oriented dramas.
Rounding out the top three, A24’s The Smashing Machine, a gritty sports biopic, debuted with $6.0 million from 3,345 theaters. It’s a modest but promising start for the indie studio, which continues to position itself as the champion of mid-budget, awards-driven storytelling.
Holdovers Define the Middle Order
While the top three titles drew the headlines, the rest of the chart revealed the backbone of current audience preferences — reliable franchises, family titles, and genre-driven content.
At #4, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie earned $5.2 million, sliding 62% from its debut but still showing solid traction among younger viewers. Distributed by Universal Pictures International (UPI), the film’s cumulative domestic total now stands at $21.6 million after two weeks — a decent showing for a preschool-branded feature.
Fifth place went to The Conjuring: Last Rites, which continues to exhibit remarkable staying power. The horror sequel added $4.05 million in its fifth weekend, dropping a mild 40% and pushing its domestic total to $167.8 million. For Warner Bros., the film has been a rare bright spot in a mixed year, reaffirming the franchise’s enduring draw.
At #6, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle grossed $3.5 million in its fourth weekend, declining 50.7%. With a running domestic total of $124.6 million, it continues to showcase anime’s impressive foothold in North America. Sony Pictures Releasing has once again proven that the genre’s dedicated fanbase can sustain strong multi-week performance.
Re-Releases and Newcomers Fill Out the Chart
A notable entry this weekend was Avatar: The Way of Water (2025 Re-release), which surfaced again at #7. The reissue earned $3.19 million across 2,140 theaters, signaling continued audience appetite for James Cameron’s visual spectacle even years after its original release.
At #8, The Strangers: Chapter 2 brought in $2.8 million (–51.8%), while IFC Films’ Good Boy entered the chart at #9 with $2.25 million from 1,650 screens, demonstrating a modest but respectable launch for an indie thriller. Closing the list, The Long Walk from Lionsgate collected $1.7 million, down 48.7%, for a cumulative total of $31.9 million after four weeks.
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Top 10 Films at the U.S. Box Office (October 3–5, 2025)
According to Box Office Mojo, here’s how the top ten shaped up this weekend:
Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl – $33 million
One Battle After Another – $11.1 million
The Smashing Machine – $6 million
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie – $5.2 million
The Conjuring: Last Rites – $4.05 million
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle – $3.5 million
Avatar: The Way of Water (2025 Re-release) – $3.19 million
The Strangers: Chapter 2 – $2.8 million
Good Boy – $2.25 million
The Long Walk – $1.7 million
What This Weekend Reveals
The October 3–5 frame reinforced the industry’s key 2025 trends. Theatrical audiences continue to rally behind event experiences — either massive concert spectacles or familiar franchise fare — while mid-budget originals find it increasingly hard to stay afloat.
Taylor Swift’s film, produced in collaboration with AMC, shows that music-based experiences can rival blockbusters when packaged as fandom-driven events. Studios may look to replicate this hybrid release model to tap directly into fan communities.
One Battle After Another demonstrates that even an auteur’s reputation and critical buzz can’t guarantee box office legs without broad audience appeal. Its second-week drop mirrors the challenges of marketing complex, adult dramas in a crowding marketplace.
Horror (The Conjuring), anime (Demon Slayer), and family content (Gabby’s Dollhouse) continue to provide stability, each with dedicated audiences that sustain earnings beyond opening frames.
Disney’s Avatar reissue and IFC’s Good Boy add diversity to the chart, underscoring how studios use gaps between tentpoles to re-engage niche audiences and maintain theatrical momentum.
Taylor Swift’s Spectacle Rules, Prestige Falters, and Franchises Endure
The October box office began with a stark contrast — Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl riding unparalleled fan energy, and One Battle After Another grappling with its commercial reality. The rest of the chart reaffirmed the trends shaping 2025: audiences still crave community experiences, recognizable brands, and genre comfort.
As the calendar moves toward heavyweights like Tron: Ares and Joker: Folie à Deux, the question remains whether the awards-season hopefuls can hold their ground or if the box office will remain a stage dominated by spectacle. For now, Swift holds the mic — and the momentum.
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