Springsteen vs. Regretting You Is A Box Office Lesson Hollywood Needs To Learn

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I’m really excited by what’s happening at the box office this week! While the top film might not be a huge surprise, it really shows how anime is taking off here in the US. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc is number one with over $17 million, and it’s a direct continuation of the popular TV show. It’s not shocking, though, considering it’s already made over $100 million worldwide – it’s awesome to see anime doing so well!

Coming in second place with $13 million is Black Phone 2. This horror film from Blumhouse is in its second week of release and currently the only big horror movie out in October. It’s still uncertain if it will be the top choice for Halloween, especially with special re-releases of Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters competing for viewers.

The box office results for the weekend are starting to tell a story. Colleen Hoover’s new movie, Regretting You, earned $12.85 million, placing it slightly below Black Phone 2. Meanwhile, the documentary Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere brought in just over $9 million. While Regretting You had a budget of $30 million and this opening is promising, the $55 million Springsteen film’s results are a letdown. This difference highlights an important lesson for Hollywood about how to schedule movie releases.

The Box Office Can’t Afford To Be A Closed Ecosystem

Films often explore the world of filmmaking itself, and I’m just as drawn to those stories as anyone else. Critics and awards shows particularly enjoy movies about making movies – a recent TV show about the industry even won a lot of Emmys. We also tend to focus on the movie release schedule when talking about box office success, rather than the films themselves.

We usually judge movies by comparing them to other films released at the same time, or to similar movies from the past. The movie industry also tends to group releases by season – big action films in the summer, serious dramas in the fall, and less promising projects are often released in January and February. Sometimes, we consider how a movie fits into the broader cultural landscape, like when Nosferatu was seen as a different kind of film to watch during Christmas, not because of its competition, but simply because it came out around the holiday.

When a project doesn’t succeed, one of the first things people ask (after considering marketing) is whether it was released at the right time or if it could compete with other options. However, the assumption behind this thinking – that people who didn’t see one film simply went to see another – isn’t necessarily true anymore, especially after the pandemic changed viewing habits.

As reported by Deadline, movie theaters noted a drop in male viewers this weekend, blaming it on the popularity of the World Series. However, with so many entertainment options available and movie attendance declining overall, studios need to consider everything their target audiences are doing – not just what other films are playing. They can’t afford to ignore these competing interests.

I was really fascinated by the numbers surrounding the release of Regretting You. It seems like Bruce Springsteen’s usual fans weren’t really there, but the film surprisingly drew a huge female audience – over 80%, in fact! It actually did really well because it wasn’t competing with Springsteen, but with baseball. It made me wonder if studios should reconsider releasing all those serious, award-hopeful movies in the fall, when everyone is already glued to baseball playoffs and then football. Maybe there’s a better time to reach that audience.

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2025-10-27 15:05