The People Love Themselves Some ‘Now You See Me’

Do you believe in magic? Apparently yes, because audiences around the world flocked to Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, the magical threequel was the big winner at the box office, netting $75.5 million worldwide over the weekend. A lot of that can be owed to its international take of $54.2 million, and China’s $19.2 million being one of the big contributing territories. Despite the series’ continuously mixed reviews, there’s a fondness for these magical heist movies, and the newest film reunites the original quartet of Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Woody Harrelson with newcomers Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, and Ariana Greenblatt for another caper. It’s been nearly a decade since the last movie, but Lionsgate’s already being proactive with this one and already has a fourth movie planned.

The success of Now You See Me is considered a bit surprising given its big competition for the weekend was Paramount’s The Running Man. Directed by Edgar Wright and starring Glen Powell, the latest Stephen King adaptation has come in somewhere between $27 million-$28 million worldwide. The uncertainty is owed to Paramount reporting a domestic take of $17 million at time of writing, whereas other sources claim $16 million. Internationally, it’s made a confirmed $11.2 million.

Running Man originally seemed poised to win the weekend with projections pegging it at $24 million-$25 million, but the studio lowered expectations throughout the weekend. Its reactions are also mixed, but it lacks a decade’s worth of nostalgia buy-in like Now You See Me does. Its male target demographic may also be split thanks to Predator: Badlands coming out last week and still making money.

But come this Friday, all three films will have to hold their own against Wicked For Good and hoo-boy, good luck with that.

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