5 Reasons Why Now You See Me: Now You Don't Dominated The Box Office

Despite being away for nearly a decade, the "Now You See Me" franchise still has some magic, it seems. The Four Horsemen returned over the weekend as the long-awaited "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" hit theaters. It proved to be a win for Lionsgate as the third installment ended up pulling off a bit of an upset at the box office.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer ("Venom"), "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" opened to $21 million domestically, which was more than enough to beat out "The Running Man" ($16.5 million) for the number one spot. The threequel overperformed, as it was expected to pull in a more modest $12 to $17 million opening. Meanwhile, "The Running Man" was looking at an opening of at least $20 million, but that's not how things shook out.

The third "Now You See Me" movie follows the now-retired Horsemen as they reunite for a diamond heist and team up with some new, younger performers. The gang is back, with Jesse Eisenberg (J. Daniel Atlas), Woody Harrelson (Merritt McKinney), Dave Franco (Jack Wilder), Isla Fisher (Henley Reeves), and Morgan Freeman (Thaddeus Bradley) all returning. Newcomers include Dominic Sessa ("The Holdovers"), Justice Smith ("Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"), Ariana Greenblatt ("Barbie"), and Rosamund Pike ("Saltburn") as the villain.

So, what went right here? Why is it that this franchise appears to be so reliable even after all these years? We're going to look at the biggest reasons why "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" was a big hit at the box office on opening weekend. Let's get into it.

There's often a major focus on domestic box office numbers. For Hollywood, that often makes sense, particularly in the pandemic era when overseas box office breakouts have been harder and harder to come by. Be that as it may, the key to the success of "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" had to do with international interest. The movie's success in North America is truly just the tip of the iceberg here.

To that end, the movie made an outsized $54.2 million internationally over the weekend, giving it a $75.5 million global debut. It was the top movie worldwide, even as "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" pulled in a massive $52 million in China, making the anime an even bigger hit than it was already. For contrast, "The Running Man" made just $11.2 million overseas, which is a little more typical for Hollywood releases these days. That is why this movie may well be able to justify its sizable $90 million budget. 

History was on this movie's side. 2013's "Now You See Me" opened to $29.3 million domestically en route to $351.7 million worldwide. "Now You See Me 2" opened a little softer at $22.3 million and still made it to $334.8 million globally. The key, in both cases, was interest outside of the U.S., as the first movie made nearly two-thirds of its money internationally, while the sequel made just over 80%. That pattern is continuing this time around.

The "Now You See Me" movies, dating back to the original in 2013, have never really been critical darlings. They're popcorn movies made as pure entertainment, plain and simple. There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever — it's all about knowing the audience. Lionsgate didn't do a lot to win over critics with this film, but they did do right by fans of this franchise, which was key.

"Now You Don't" carries a 59% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a much better 81% critical approval rating. It also earned a decent B+ CinemaScore, which isn't great, but in this case appears to be good enough to get the job done. It seems as though the movie is resonating well enough with much of the same audience who made the first two movies into big hits. The studio's thinking appeared to be "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

While the sequel had been in development for quite some time, "Now You Don't" may have benefited from the nine-year gap. At the very least, a long time away didn't lead to any great loss of interest, which is even more impressive given how many franchise efforts have floundered in the post-pandemic era. For whatever reason, these movies have a loyal crowd that got what they wanted out of this magic-filled romp.

Ruben Fleischer is not the kind of director that has a great deal of name recognition like Ryan Coogler or Steven Spielberg, but his name does mean something in that he makes movies that general audiences seem to enjoy quite a bit. He stepped in to take the helm of "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" and worked his magic yet again.

As a director, Fleischer has suffered a couple of misfires in the form of "30 Minutes or Less" and "Gangster Squad," but his hits far outweigh his misses. His feature debut "Zombieland" was a very solid mid-budget hit, taking in $102 million against a sub-$25 million budget. That success repeated with "Zombieland: Double Tap" ($125 million worldwide). The biggest hit of his career remains "Venom," which made an astonishing $856 million in 2018. He also helped turn "Uncharted" into a $407 million hit for Sony in 2022, even though a sequel has yet to materialize.

Fleischer's blockbusters aren't generally favored by critics, but that hardly seems to matter. The people who are actually showing up and paying money for tickets enjoy what he has to offer. He was very much the right choice to take over this franchise. It certainly doesn't hurt that he has a longstanding working relationship with Eisenberg and Harrelson. Something about them working together just seems to click.

There's something to be said for playing to the widest possible audience. Not that R-rated movies can't work — just look at last year's "Deadpool & Wolverine" becoming a $1.3 billion smash hit — but PG or a friendly PG-13 opens the door a little wider. This movie benefited greatly from serving that wider audience.

Looking at what else is out there right now, yes, "Predator: Badlands" is also PG-13, but it's still very violent and the series has historically been R-rated. It's not quite as friendly to wider audiences as a heist movie centered around magic. Broadly speaking, looking at the year as a whole, superhero movies outside of "Superman" haven't been nearly as big as they used to be, and "Jurassic World Rebirth" came out way back in July. Meanwhile, "Tron: Ares" bombed at the box office in October.

All of this to say, there was arguably some pent-up demand for a movie aimed at PG-13 crowds. Especially when we consider that PG movies have absolutely dominated at the box office as of late. This is a little edgier than PG, but it airs on the side of audience-friendly, which unquestionably helped its case.

It may seem odd, but it's true: "Now You See Me" has been a thing long enough to benefit, at least a little bit, from nostalgia for the franchise overall. The first one came out back in 2013, meaning these characters have been a fixture on the big screen (and, rather crucially, cable TV and streaming) for well over a decade at this point. With the Four Horsemen disappearing for nine years, audiences had enough time to miss them. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Wisely, Lionsgate and Fleischer didn't simply lean on the past, either. They introduced a trio of new magicians played by younger rising stars in the form of Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, and Ariana Greenblatt. It's the legacy sequel playbook, where the older generation passes a torch to the younger generation. Where that formula failed in a movie like "Karate Kid: Legends," it worked very well here.

Whether or not this movie can hold well enough in the coming weeks against strong competition like "Wicked: For Good" and "Zootopia 2" to become an outright theatrical hit remains to be seen, but it's off to a strong start, and Lionsgate may well have succeeded where so many others have failed during the pandemic era. Audience habits have changed a lot, but people still like magic through a "rob from the rich and give to the poor" lens. 

"Now You See Me: Now You Don't" is in theaters now.