Now You See Me 3 Tops Box Office With $21M–$24M Opening Ahead of Running Man

Lead

Lionsgate’s Now You See Me: Now You Don’t opened as the weekend leader in the pre-Thanksgiving frame with an estimated $21 million–$24 million start, outpacing Paramount’s Edgar Wright reboot The Running Man. Early Friday tallies for Now You See Me 3 showed roughly $7.5M–$8.4M (reports varied, with $2.1M in Thursday previews), and the threequel is playing widely in roughly 3,400 theaters. The film’s PG-13 rating and strong social reach helped drive a younger, female-skewing turnout, while Running Man, R-rated, leaned male and trailed in preview momentum.

Key Takeaways

• Now You See Me 3 is estimated to open between $21M and $24M in the U.S., with Thursday/Friday previews around $2.1M and Friday figures reported between $7.5M and $8.4M.
• Now You See Me 3 is playing in about 3,403 theaters and reported a B+ CinemaScore; Rotten Tomatoes shows 60% critics / 83% audience for the threequel.
• Running Man is playing in roughly 3,534 theaters, with Thursday previews near $1.9M and Friday around $5.5M estimates; it also earned a B+ CinemaScore but skews 64% male at the box office.
• Predator: Badlands sits in third with a weakening second weekend; Friday for Badlands was about $3.5M and weekend estimates point to a $13M–$14M frame and a running total near $67M.
• Lionsgate is leveraging the Now You See Me brand globally (including an early China cume near $16M and a planned magic stage show in Sydney), and the film’s social reach across platforms is reported near 300 million followers.
• Audience composition differs sharply: Now You See Me 3 is 54% female, 66% ages 18–34, while Running Man is 64% male with 46% over 35, affecting each title’s box-office profile.
• Premium large formats (PLFs) account for roughly 20% of Now You See Me 3’s business; for Running Man, IMAX and PLFs supply about 46% of early receipts.

Background

The Now You See Me franchise returns after a nine-year gap since the previous sequel, tapping nostalgia and a returned ensemble led by Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. Lionsgate has positioned the threequel as broad, PG-13 mass entertainment aimed at date nights and younger audiences, a strategy that differs from Paramount’s R-rated Running Man remake starring Glen Powell and directed by Edgar Wright. Historically, the original Now You See Me films relied heavily on international box office; the first film and its sequel both earned substantial overseas totals, and the studio expects similar patterns, especially after the series’ stronger early performance in markets like China.

Running Man revives a 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger property in a modern action-reboot style and carries an adult rating that narrows its family appeal but targets older and male-skewing demographics. The 1987 original opened in the same mid-November window and finished with a $38.1M domestic run; Paramount’s new version launched with moderate preview numbers and varied tracking between mid-teens to low-twenties weekend projections. Meanwhile, 20th Century Studios’ Predator: Badlands continues to run as a legacy horror/action franchise entry and is weathering steeper-than-expected declines in week two.

Main Event

Box-office tracking shifted in favor of Now You See Me 3 late in the week, turning an expected high-teens start into a $21M–$24M projection. Early Friday reports ranged from $7.5M (updated midday, which included $2.1M in previews) to $8.4M in other tallies; such intra-day adjustments reflect differing weekend models and source inputs. The film played evenly nationwide with pronounced strength in the South, South Central and Mountain regions, and marquee locations such as AMC Empire in New York showed strong openings approaching $30K from Thursday night runs.

Running Man posted solid but cooler preview business (about $1.9M) and a Friday near $5.5M in some estimates, putting it in contention for the runner-up slot. Its R rating and older-skewing audience profile constrained family turnout; theater-level leaders like AMC Lincoln Square reported top grosses for the title with nearly $39K in early grosses. Premium formats are a significant revenue driver for the redeveloped sci-fi actioner, contributing nearly half of its early box-office haul.

Predator: Badlands is experiencing a sharper second-week drop than many had anticipated, with a second Friday reported at about $3.5M (a steep decline) and a weekend in the $13M–$14M range on roughly 3,725 locations. The title’s running cume sits near $67M on the high end, indicating that word-of-mouth has not stabilized momentum as hoped. Other holdovers in the top five include Paramount’s Regretting You, which is in its fourth weekend and approaching a mid-$40M running total.

Analysis & Implications

Now You See Me 3’s outsize debut relative to recent tracking underlines how franchise gaps can revive interest: absence from theaters for nearly a decade raised audience curiosity and amplified nostalgia-driven intent. Lionsgate’s broad marketing push, plus cross-platform social reach (reported near 300 million across TikTok, YouTube, X, Instagram and Facebook), elevated awareness above what trackers predicted weeks earlier. The studio’s ancillary play—launching a stage magic show at the Sydney Opera House then touring globally—signals a broader IP monetization approach beyond theatrical receipts.

Running Man’s performance highlights the trade-offs of rating and audience targeting. The R rating restricts family attendance and hands a comparative advantage to PG-13 competitors in the pre-holiday window; it also means the film must lean heavily on core adult and action audiences and premium-format revenue to meet higher production and P&A thresholds. Edgar Wright’s creative stamp and Glen Powell’s star turn generate critical and audience interest, but the title’s preview totals suggest a slower start than some mid-week projections anticipated.

Predator: Badlands’ steeper-than-expected decline suggests genre fatigue or mixed reception among core horror-action buyers. Even for franchise entries with strong global awareness, sustaining second-weekend legs requires positive word-of-mouth and cross-demographic appeal—factors that appear limited so far. For distributors, the cluster of mid-November releases reinforces a marathon approach: Thanksgiving remains two weeks away, and titles that can hold or rebuild momentum through holiday windows will outperform those that peak and precipitously fall.

Comparison & Data

The table shows the scale and early momentum differences among the three top titles. Now You See Me 3’s combination of wide play, a PG-13 rating, and PLF support (about 20% of its intake) created a stronger opening profile than trackers had assumed. Running Man’s premium-format skew (IMAX/PLFs making up ~46% of its till) partially offsets lower mass turnout, while Predator’s decline emphasizes the importance of sustained audience recommendation for genre titles.

Reactions & Quotes

Industry trackers and market observers gave context to the surprise lift for Lionsgate.

“Nostalgia is clearly translating into ticket intent—the franchise has resurfaced as a comfort-food spectacle for many viewers,”

RelishMix (industry analytics)

RelishMix’s sentiment summary captures the fan chatter that elevated late-week intent, noting social posts about the ensemble reunion and the title pun as shareable catalysts for interest.

“Premium screens are an outsized revenue driver for Running Man, helping compensate for its narrower rating-driven audience,”

Exhibitor analytics (industry source)

Exhibitor-level data underlines how IMAX/PLF demand can materially influence a mid-budget blockbuster’s early returns, particularly for titles that skew older and male.

“The threequel’s China early intake near $16M suggests stronger overseas appetite this weekend compared with prior franchise installments,”

Distribution market report

International early cume is important for Lionsgate because previous franchise entries leaned heavily on foreign revenue; early China figures support a healthier global trajectory than initial domestic-only tracking implied.

Unconfirmed

• Exact Friday gross for Now You See Me 3: early reporting ranged between $7.5M and $8.4M; final studio weekend grosses may revise these intraday estimates.
• Some weekend tracker projections for Running Man vary; a few models still place its three-day return in the high teens, but others estimate a low-mid teens finish.
• China’s early cume for Now You See Me 3 is reported close to $16M; this figure is an early snapshot and could be adjusted as more territory reports finalize grosses.

Bottom Line

Now You See Me 3’s stronger-than-expected opening demonstrates the continued commercial value of mid-budget franchise content when paired with effective marketing and cross-platform reach. Lionsgate’s strategy—leaning into nostalgia, maximizing younger audience turnout, and monetizing the IP beyond film—helped the title claim the top slot in a crowded pre-holiday weekend.

For Running Man, the challenge will be converting early premium-format strength into endurance across the Thanksgiving corridor; an older, male-skewing audience can sustain a film, but only if word-of-mouth and repeat play are solid. Predator: Badlands faces the longest uphill climb, needing steadier audience advocacy to moderate its steep second-week drop.

Sources

• Deadline — Industry trade reporting and box-office roundup (primary)
• Rotten Tomatoes — Review aggregator for critic/audience scores
• CinemaScore — Audience polling and grade reporting (research)
• Box Office Mojo — Box-office database for historical comparisons