This weekend (March 2026 frame), Universal’s adaptation Reminders of Him emerged as the headline performer for female audiences, netting roughly $19M–$20M for the weekend after leading Friday with about $8M. Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers remained strong in its second frame, pushing toward a roughly $30M weekend and an $88M-plus cume. A24’s indie horror undertone opened to modest early returns—$4.3M Friday with a realistic shot at a $8.5M–$10.5M weekend—while legacy studio tentpoles such as Warner Bros.’ The Bride! and Paramount/Spyglass’ Scream 7 tracked lower in subsequent frames. Overall, the market is improving year-over-year (roughly +68% vs. the same weekend last year) with total weekend intake north of $87M.
Key Takeaways
- Reminders of Him is estimated at $19M (possible $20M), with an 81% female audience skew and a CinemaScore of B; PostTrak reports a 66% “definite recommend.”
- Reminders’ audience breakdown: 57% women over 25, 25% women under 25; women under 25 post the highest definite recommend (70%).
- A24’s undertone posted $4.3M on Friday and is tracking toward roughly $8.5M–$10.5M at 2,570 sites; it registered a C CinemaScore and a 41% definite recommend on PostTrak.
- Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers is holding well in weekend two, near $30M (about -34% second-frame drop) and a domestic cume forecast around $88.3M by Sunday.
- PLF (premium large format) screens are contributing meaningfully: 17% of Reminders’ weekend and 22% of undertone’s box were PLF-driven.
- Regional patterns differ: Reminders plays strongest in the South, South Central, Midwest and Mountain regions; undertone is performing best in the West.
- Scream 7 crossed the $100M domestic threshold this frame, sitting near a $105.6M cume by Sunday.
Background
Reminders of Him joins a spate of screen adaptations of Colleen Hoover novels that have created a distinct submarket for female-focused romantic melodrama. Hoover adaptations have shown varied box office outcomes: It Ends With Us opened to $50M stateside and carried strong awareness, while Regretting You finished with a $48.8M domestic run. Studios have leaned into targeted grassroots and Heartland promotion—screenings, Q&As and book tie-ins—to mobilize book fans and younger women as a repeat-viewing core.
A24’s recent slate of low-budget horror has relied on calendar timing, genre fandom and targeted theatrical play to punch above perceived weight—examples include Heretic and other specialty titles that leveraged strong preview days and horror-adjacent cultural moments. PLF bookings and concentrated urban play can raise per-theater averages for these films, even when national reach is limited to a few thousand sites.
Main Event
Universal’s Reminders of Him posted roughly $8M on Friday and finished the weekend in the $19M–$20M neighborhood, driven by an 81% female turnout and strong engagement among women under 25. The film’s Thursday previews totaled about $1.9M across roughly 3,000 theaters; total reach across social platforms measured by RelishMix stood near 349M impressions prior to opening. PostTrak’s 66% definite recommend and a B CinemaScore suggest positive but not ecstatic mainstream word of mouth—positioned between previous Hoover titles in audience approval.
A24’s undertone opened Friday at $4.3M and is projected toward an $8.5M–$10.5M three-day across approximately 2,570 sites. The film skewed male (55%), with a heavy turnout from 18–34-year-olds (74%), and performed particularly well in the West—AMC Burbank is its top grossing single venue with about $36K to date. Early indicators include a C CinemaScore and a 41% definite recommend on PostTrak, signaling polarized reactions common to edgy indie horror.
Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers remained resilient in sophomore weekend play, with a Friday near $7.1M and a projected second-frame near $27M–$30M; the film’s cume is on pace for roughly $88.3M by Sunday. Hoppers’ hold outpaces several earlier Pixar original efforts in their second frames, indicating healthy family and multiplex demand this season.
Other titles: Warner Bros.’ The Bride! posted a steep decline (~-70%) with a weekend estimate near $2.15M and a cume approaching $11.3M; Scream 7 continued to add legs in its third weekend, reaching a domestic cume near $105.6M; Sony’s family title Goat remained in the mix with a three-day around $5M and a cumulative near $90.8M.
Analysis & Implications
The current frame underlines several persistent trends. First, female-driven literary IP—especially bestsellers like Hoover’s—can still command strong opening weekends when marketing aligns with core demographics and the author’s built-in readership. Universal’s Heartland-focused tour and book-oriented activations amplified conversions among book buyers (32% of ticket buyers cited the book/subject as their primary reason).
Second, social reach and talent activation are influential but not determinative. Reminders’ social universe (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook) outpaced some predecessors in raw reach—YouTube views and platform impressions were notably high—but translate imperfectly to box office dollars. The film’s repeat-viewing potential and emotional positioning (catharsis-driven social chatter) likely boosted weekend legs among core female cohorts.
For indie horror, calendar timing matters: a Friday the 13th landing, concentrated city play, and PLF bookings can lift a modest-budget title into a surprise top-three finish. Still, undertone’s modest PostTrak and CinemaScore readings suggest mixed audience sentiment—good for headline totals in opening frames, but possibly limiting strong hold beyond weekend one.
Finally, the market-wide improvement versus last year (about +68%) suggests healthier theatrical appetite in this segment, but the divergence between tentpole drops (The Bride!’s plunge) and targeted successes (Reminders, Hoppers) highlights a bifurcated landscape: eventized IP and precise niche programming win; broad mid-range studio fare struggles without a clear audience hook.
Comparison & Data
| Title | Weekend Estimate | Friday | Theaters | Cume (by Sunday est.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reminders of Him | $19M–$20M | ~$8M | ~3,000–3,400 | Opening weekend |
| Hoppers | ~$27M–$30M (2nd wk) | ~$7.1M | ~4,000 | ~$88.3M |
| undertone | $8.5M–$10.5M (proj.) | $4.3M | ~2,570 | Opening weekend |
| Scream 7 | $7.5M | $2.2M | ~3,243 | ~$105.6M |
| The Bride! | ~$2.15M | $650K | ~3,304 | ~$11.3M |
The table highlights the split between targeted hits and wider-studio offerings. Per-theater averages and PLF share explain outsized venue-level results (for example, Harkins Estrella Falls leading Reminders’ site grosses and AMC Burbank leading undertone’s grosses).
Reactions & Quotes
“Social conversation around Reminders skews emotional and loyalty-driven, with repeat-viewing signals from book fans,”
RelishMix (industry social tracker)
“PostTrak shows solid definite-recommend scores for female demos—especially women under 25—helping the title over-index in Heartland and Southern markets,”
Comscore/PostTrak (audience measurement)
“Undertone’s Friday the 13th timing and PLF placements helped an otherwise modest platform expand into a strong urban foothold,”
Exhibition and distribution reports (A24 reporting)
Unconfirmed
- Final studio weekend tallies: a small revision is possible once Sunday evening grosses are tallied and international holds are reported.
- Exact causal impact of social reach on box office dollars: while impressions are high, the direct conversion rate from platform views to ticket buys is still an estimate and may vary by market.
- Some theater-level grosses (top venue tallies) are preliminary and subject to minor correction as exhibitors submit final reports.
Bottom Line
This weekend reinforced the value of targeted IP marketing: a book-driven, female-leaning title with focused grassroots outreach can outpace broader studio fare even without blockbuster-scale budgets. Reminders of Him illustrates how author fandom, regional activations and emotional social chatter translate into a strong opening for a midrange release.
At the same time, undertone’s modest-plateau performance underscores the limits of genre openings when audience sentiment is mixed; calendar advantages (Friday the 13th) and PLF placements can help but are not a substitute for broader recommend strength. Overall, the market’s improvement year-over-year suggests theaters remain viable for both eventized IP and well-targeted indie fare—but film-by-film execution and audience alignment remain decisive.