Now You See Me 3 Pulls Ahead Of The Running Man As Box Office Battle Rages

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is expected to best The Running Man at the domestic box office during their mutual opening weekend.

2025’s The Running Man is a new adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King novel starring Glen Powell, while Now You See Me is the third installment in the stage magic-themed heist franchise. Both were previously expected to debut just north of $20 million at the domestic box office.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, the formerly neck-and-neck race between the two new releases sees Now You See Me: Now You Don’t pulling considerably ahead of The Running Man.

The former is expected to earn a 3-day total between $21 and $24 million at the domestic box office, taking No. 1 while the latter slips to No. 2 with a projected debut between $16 and $18 million.

Now You See Me: 3 has a major advantage over The Running Man because it is a PG-13 movie, which grants it access to a much broader audience than the R-rated Stephen King thriller, which was directed by Last Night in Soho‘s Edgar Wright.

This may be one of the major factors that has allowed it to overcome the fact that The Running Man‘s Fresh 65% Rotten Tomatoes score has bested its Rotten 59%. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t reviews from verified audience members have been much stronger, however, giving it a Popcornmeter score of 80%.

The Running Man slowing down during its opening weekend could be a bad sign, considering the fact that it has a reported budget of $110 million. Because tentpole movies often need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in theaters, this could place its estimated break-even point as high as $275 million.

This is another area where the new Now You See Me movie is superior. Its reported budget is only $90 million, placing its estimated break-even point around $225 million.

Ultimately, both movies will need to have long legs at the box office in order to become hits. Even though Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is winning the battle, neither movie’s opening weekend is particularly solid for a theatrical tentpole.

In fact, both Now You See Me: Now You Don’t and The Running Man are coming in considerably below the $33.2 million debut of Disney’s 2025 disappointment Tron: Ares. While the impending Thanksgiving holiday could help both connect more with domestic audiences, they will face major competition from the upcoming Wicked: For Good and Zootopia 2, so it remains to be seen how they perform.

Enjoy ScreenRant’s box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check “Box Office” in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more:

Sign Up