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Weapons Is No. 1, Jaws Re-Release Beats Newcomers

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Box office, welcome to the dog days of summer. In this terribly sluggish Labor Day holiday weekend, a horror movie in its fourth weekend of release was No. 1 while a 50-year-old blockbuster beat out two newcomers.

Weapons,” after briefly ceding the crown to Netflix’s “Kpop Demon Hunters,” reclaimed the top spot in North America with $10.2 million over the traditional weekend and an estimated $12.4 million through Monday. So far, the scary movie has earned $134.6 million domestically and $250 million globally against a $38 million budget. Zach Cregger’s sleeper success is the latest theatrical winner for Warner Bros., which suffered a rocky start to the year but has since rebounded with hits like “A Minecraft Movie,” “Sinners,” “Final Destination Bloodlines,” “F1: The Movie” (which the studio distributed for Apple) and “Superman.”

In second place, a “Jaws” 50th anniversary re-release collected $8.1 million from 3,200 theaters over the weekend and an estimated $9.8 million through Monday. Turns out, that shark still has teeth. Those ticket sales were above two new major studio offerings, Sony’s crime comedy “Caught Stealing” and Disney and 20th Century’s satire “The Roses.” “Jaws” is widely credited with launching the summer blockbuster, with its outsized profits making studios realize the appeal of releasing films when kids were out of school, as well as the merchandising opportunities that an escapist adventure can create.

“Caught Stealing,” directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz, landed at No. 3 with $7.8 million over the traditional weekend and an estimated $9.5 million over the four-day holiday frame. It’s a so-so start for the $40 million budgeted film, about a New York City bartender who finds himself in the crosshairs of threatening gangsters after agreeing to watch his neighbor’s cat. Though reviews were positive (84% on Rotten Tomatoes), moviegoers weren’t as enthusiastic and gave the film a “B” grade on CinemaScore exit polls.

“This opening is good-not-great,” says analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “There are a lot of crime thrillers, and this is not an easy sell following a summer lineup of event pictures.”

Fourth place went to Disney’s “Freakier Friday,” the sequel to the 2003 body-switching comedy, “Freaky Friday,” which earned $6.5 million over the weekend and $8.3 million across the four-day holiday. Its domestic gross should stand at just over $80 million, and its global haul will hit $130 million through Labor Day.

Meanwhile, “The Roses” debuted in fifth place with $6.4 million over the weekend and an estimated $8 million through Labor Day. Directed by Jay Roach and loosely based on the 1981 novel “The War of the Roses,” the story follows a seemingly picture-perfect couple with serious cracks in the relationship. Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman lead the cast alongside the ensemble of Andy Samberg, Allison Janney and Kate McKinnon. Critics didn’t love the film (64% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences seemed fonder, granting “The Roses” a “B+” grade on CinemaScore.

“This is a soft start,” says Gross. “These days, a release like this will finish quickly on its way to good ancillary business, again, driven by the quality cast.”

Perhaps it felt overly familiar. “The War of the Roses” was already adapted into a 1989 film with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. Unlike “The Roses,” it was a huge hit, earning $160 million — a huge sum for the time.

Labor Day isn’t known for packing in crowds at the movies, so it’s no surprise that this weekend was among the softest of the year. Overall, the four-day stretch brought in roughly $86 million, a 19% decline from last year’s holiday, which was powered by Marvel’s billion-dollar blockbuster “Deadpool and Wolverine.” The summer season officially ended with domestic revenues at $3.67 billion, down 0.2% from 2024 and a whopping 10.2% behind 2023, according to Comscore. That’s disappointing news for the business, which thought this crop of sequels, spinoffs and superhero adventures would be enough to push ticket sales to $4 billion.

Better luck next summer.



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Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos mocks Alabama with merch after opener upset

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Less than 24 hours after handing Alabama its first loss in a season opener since 2001, Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos is capitalizing on the weekend’s biggest upset.

Castellanos’ website is selling eight shirts and sweatshirts taunting the No. 8 Crimson Tide over its 31-17 loss to the Seminoles. Alabama entered the game as a heavy favorite, even on the road.

Some of the merchandise features the line “Nick Can’t Save Them,” a reference to his eyebrow-raising comments about the Tide in June, when he said, “They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”

At ACC media days in July, he doubled down on his prediction, telling reporters: “We stand on what I said. I said what I said, and we stand on that.”

 

 

On Saturday, he backed up those words, leading FSU to a stunning victory.

Other items Castellanos is selling show a cartoon of him standing on a brick with Saturday’s score painted on it, while others say “Stand On What I Said.”

Castellanos, a senior who transferred to FSU after two seasons at Boston College, completed 9 of 14 pass attempts for 152 yards against Alabama. He also ran for 78 yards and a touchdown.

Alabama suffered multiple upsets last season under new head coach Kalen DeBoer, and some fans feel the team has underperformed since Saban’s retirement, posting a 9-5 record since the switch.

The Seminoles will face East Texas A&M next Saturday, while Alabama is set to take on Louisiana-Monroe the same day.

(Photo by Butch Dill / Getty Images)





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Kristi Noem confirms plan to expand ICE operations in major cities

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Sunday that the Trump administration plans to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in major cities, including Chicago.

Asked about plans to expand ICE operations in Chicago specifically, Noem told CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” “We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws, but we do intend to add more resources to those operations.”

Asked about what an expansion of ICE operations would look like in Chicago and whether it would involve a mobilization of National Guard troops to assist with immigration raids and arrests, Noem demurred, saying, “That always is a prerogative of President [Donald] Trump and his decision. I won’t speak to the specifics of the operations that are planned in other cities.”

Her remarks come one day after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order directing his city’s legal department to explore ways to counter a potential surge in federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to Illinois.

During a press conference Saturday, Johnson warned that Chicago officials had “received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our cities see some type of militarized activity by the federal government.”

Earlier this month, the Trump administration directed federal law enforcement officers, including those employed by ICE, to assist police in Washington, D.C., with crime-fighting operations. That surge of resources included thousands of National Guard troops who were deployed to the nation’s capital with the stated goal of lowering crime rates.

Following the movement of troops and law enforcement officers to Washington, Trump threatened to send federal officers and troops to other major American cities, including Baltimore.

Later in the Sunday interview, Noem was asked whether Boston would be one of the cities where the federal government would surge immigration enforcement agents.

“There’s a lot of cities that are dealing with crime and violence right now, and so we haven’t taken anything off the table,” she said, adding later: “I’d encourage every single big city — San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, whatever they are — if they want to help make their city safer, more prosperous, allow people the opportunity to walk in freedom like the people of Washington, D.C., are now … they should call us.”

Other Democratic officials, including a group of over a dozen governors, have condemned plans to deploy troops to their states.

In a statement last week, they said, “Whether it’s Illinois, Maryland and New York or another state tomorrow, the President’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members.”

And in an interview that aired Sunday on “Face the Nation,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said, “We don’t want troops on the streets of American cities. That’s un-American. Frankly, the president of the United States ought to know better.”

Pritzker also accused the Trump administration of targeting states run by Democrats rather than those run by Republicans, telling CBS, “Notice he never talks about where the most violent crime is occurring, which is in red states. … Their violent crime rates are much worse in other places, and we’re very proud of the work that we’ve done.”

Asked whether there are plans in place to deploy troops and federal law enforcement officials to states and cities run by Republicans, Noem said, “Absolutely.”

“Every single city is evaluated for what we need to do there to make it safer. So we’ve got operations that, again, I won’t talk about details on, but we absolutely are not looking through the viewpoint at anything we’re doing with a political lens,” she added.



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Rudy Giuliani hospitalized after his “vehicle was struck from behind at high speed”

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Rudy Giuliani was hospitalized with multiple broken bones after his vehicle was “struck from behind at high speed” in New Hampshire, his spokesperson said Sunday.

According to his spokesperson, Michael Ragusa, Giuliani was diagnosed with “fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg.” 

The crash occurred Saturday night. 

Ragusa said that before the crash, Giuliani was flagged down by a woman who was a victim of domestic violence. He “rendered assistance,” contacted 911, and “remained on scene with her until responding officers arrived to ensure her safety.” It’s unclear how that incident is related to the car crash that injured the former mayor.

In a follow-up, Ragusa said the crash was “not a targeted attack.”

Giuliani rose to fame in the 1980s and ’90s in New York City as a prosecutor before being elected mayor. After two terms as mayor, he dabbled in national politics, even running for president in 2008. Later, he became a close adviser to President Trump in his first term and became a key spreader of conspiracy theories targeting the ballot counters after Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election.

Giuliani was disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C. and he declared bankruptcy after being found liable for $146 million for spreading falsehoods about Georgia election workers. 



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