--- title: 'Practical Magic 2 Opens to $28 Million as Fall Box Office Slows' type: 'blog post' section: 'Industry' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman’s Warner Bros. sequel takes the top spot, but its debut lands below the studio’s $30 million-$35 million target. The result points to a softer post-summer market even as the 1998 film’s audience turns out.' author: 'CinePixo' published: '2026-09-13' updated: '2026-09-13' about_films: - 'Practical Magic (1998)' tags: - 'Practical Magic 2 opening weekend box office' - 'Sandra Bullock Nicole Kidman sequel earnings' - 'Warner Bros Alcon September 2026 box office' - 'post-summer movie theater slowdown' - 'Practical Magic 2 Rotten Tomatoes audience score' sources: - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/practical-magic-opens-to-28-million-as-post-summer-box-office-faces-sluggish-start/ar-AA2c5jcb' - 'https://deadline.com/2026/09/box-office-practical-magic-2-weekend-1237098516/' - 'https://www.primetimer.com/news/practical-magic-2-set-for-30-million-opening-weekend-after-beating-early-box-office-expectations' - 'https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/practical-magic-2-box-office-previews-spider-man-1236697428/' - 'https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2026/09/11/practical-magic-2-eyes-30-million-opening-to-take-down-spider-man/' - 'https://seekingalpha.com/news/4642156-spider-mans-box-office-reign-could-get-tangled-up-by-practical-magic-2' - 'https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/practical-magic-2-shrugs-off-160946272.html' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/practical-magic-2-opens-to-28-million-as-fall-box-office-slows' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Practical Magic 2 Opens to $28 Million as Fall Box Office Slows *Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman’s Warner Bros. sequel takes the top spot, but its debut lands below the studio’s $30 million-$35 million target. The result points to a softer post-summer market even as the 1998 film’s audience turns out.* By CinePixo, 2026-09-13 · Industry Practical Magic 2 opened to about $28 million in North America this weekend, according to the box-office reports collected by MSN, giving Warner Bros. the No. 1 movie while exposing how quickly the post-summer market has cooled. Deadline had tracked the sequel toward $30 million, with Warner Bros. and Alcon discussing a $30 million-$35 million range before release. The shortfall is modest, but the timing matters: Deadline expected the full weekend to reach $84.4 million, down 32% from the same frame a year earlier, when The Conjuring: Last Rites launched to $84 million. For a film built around a beloved 1998 property, $28 million is neither a collapse nor the revival Warner Bros. may have hoped to conjure. It is a solid opening that arrives with a warning attached: older audiences can still make an event of a theatrical release, but they may need a reason to show up on opening night. ## Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reclaim the top spot Practical Magic 2 played in 4,146 theaters and collected roughly $4.7 million from Thursday previews, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Deadline’s Friday estimate put the film at $13 million for the day, including previews, on its way to a projected $30 million three-day total. The final figure reported through MSN came in lower at $28 million. That still places the sequel in the same commercial neighborhood as Sandra Bullock’s recent hits. Deadline compared the opening with The Lost City, which began at $30.4 million and finished with $105.3 million domestically, and The Proposal, which opened to $33.6 million in 2009 before reaching $163.9 million. The comparison is useful, but it also reveals the pressure on Practical Magic 2. Bullock and Nicole Kidman are returning as Sally and Gillian Owens, while Joey King, Maisie Williams, Lee Pace, Xolo Maridueña, Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing join them. The cast gives the film recognizable faces; the weekend shows that recognition can secure a launch even when reviews are rough. ## The sequel’s audience is older, female and less impulsive Deadline reported that 69% of the opening audience was over 25, 36% was over 45 and 78% was female. Those numbers explain why the film’s performance may build more slowly than a superhero or horror release. Deadline described the title as “by appointment viewing” for older women: a group with strong interest, but not always the habit of rushing out on a Thursday night. The audience response gives Warner Bros. something to work with. Practical Magic 2 earned a B+ CinemaScore, above the original film’s B-, plus a 72% definite recommendation on PostTrak and a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes in Deadline’s Saturday update. The 35-to-49 demographic gave it an A- CinemaScore. The critical response is a different story. The Hollywood Reporter listed the sequel at 35% on Rotten Tomatoes, only a little above the original’s 29%. Yet that first film opened at $13.1 million in October 1998 and finished with $46.7 million domestically, later finding a larger life with viewers. The sequel is now asking that same affection to work on a much bigger opening weekend. ## Social reach did not translate into a breakout RelishMix measured Practical Magic 2’s social-media reach at 573.6 million before release, ahead of Freakier Friday, Snow White and Cruella. The service also reported positive online word of mouth at 8.2 out of 10. Those figures suggest the property remains visible, especially among younger women who discovered the original after its theatrical run. But visibility is not the same as urgency. Practical Magic 2’s audience may be enthusiastic without treating the first weekend as a deadline. Premium large-format screens supplied 35% of the weekend gross, with Dolby Cinema among the strongest options. AMC Burbank in Los Angeles led individual locations with about $38,000 in Deadline’s early figures. The best regional results came from the South, South Central, Midwest and Mountain areas. ## Spider-Man’s record run continues beneath the new No. 1 Practical Magic 2 ended Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s six-week run at No. 1, but Sony and Marvel’s film remains the weekend’s larger industry story. Deadline projected an eighth-weekend total of roughly $8.5 million and a domestic cumulative gross near $935.2 million. That puts Spider-Man within striking distance of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, whose $936.6 million domestic total is the current benchmark cited in the reports. The record could fall this weekend even as Practical Magic 2 takes the top position. Universal’s The Odyssey also remained a major holdover, adding about $8.1 million in its ninth weekend and passing $601 million domestically. Ketchup Entertainment’s Coyote vs. Acme reached roughly $47.8 million after three weekends, while Angel Studios’ Runner opened near $6 million. The shape of the weekend is clear. A recognizable female franchise can still win the chart, but it cannot assume the audience will behave like summer. Practical Magic 2’s $28 million start is a respectable return for a $75 million production split between Warner Bros. and Alcon—and a sign that September now demands patience from studios waiting for their next theatrical spell. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - 1998 · [Practical Magic](https://cinepixo.com/movies/practical-magic-1998) ## Sources - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/practical-magic-opens-to-28-million-as-post-summer-box-office-faces-sluggish-start/ar-AA2c5jcb - https://deadline.com/2026/09/box-office-practical-magic-2-weekend-1237098516/ - https://www.primetimer.com/news/practical-magic-2-set-for-30-million-opening-weekend-after-beating-early-box-office-expectations - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/practical-magic-2-box-office-previews-spider-man-1236697428/ - https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2026/09/11/practical-magic-2-eyes-30-million-opening-to-take-down-spider-man/ - https://seekingalpha.com/news/4642156-spider-mans-box-office-reign-could-get-tangled-up-by-practical-magic-2 - https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/practical-magic-2-shrugs-off-160946272.html Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/practical-magic-2-opens-to-28-million-as-fall-box-office-slows Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.