So much for a "stall," as the Hollywood Reporter initially described it. 

Instead, the new indie biopic Reagan doubled box-office expectations over a relatively quiet Labor Day weekend dominated by two tent-pole franchises. It rang up $10 million in sales over the long holiday and appeared to pick up steam in its final day of release. 

According to Box Office Mojo, that was good enough for third place overall, and second place among per-screen averages at $3,631. That just edged out Alien: Romulus in its third week of release at $3580, and came close to the latter's overall gross of $11.1 million. Deadpool & Wolverine still blew everyone out of the water in its sixth week of release, of course, bringoing its total domestic gross this summer to over $600 million. Reagan's per-screen average kept improving all weekend, too; on Sunday, BOM had at at  $3340, good enough for a third-place finish.

In other words, the film appeared to have some legs. It also did far better than other new releases this weekend, as well some higher-profile films still early in their release life. Twisters has been out for seven weeks and may be out of gas, but It Ends With Us is only in its fourth week of release and ended up behind Reagan. Sony's new release Afraid, an AI horror film, was the closest new-release competition, coming in ninth at $4.4 million and $1470 per screen. The Crow came in 13th with $2.3 million and $835 per screen.

After first describing this as a "stall" in its headline, THR changed it to note that it was fighting for third place:

The only newcomer landing in the upper reaches of the chart is the indie biopic Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid and based on Paul Kengor’s book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. After a better-than-expected Sunday, the film has found itself in a three-way contest with Twisters and It End With Us for either third or four place. The order won’t be determined until final grosses for the four-day holiday weekend are issued Monday. 

Distributor SBD is estimating a four-day opening of $10.07 million, which puts it ahead of Twisters‘ estimated holiday gross of $9.56 million and It Ends With Us‘ estimated $9.5 million. Rival studios, however, show Reagan coming in lower.

Receiving blistering reviews — its critics score is 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — Reagan fared better with audiences, who gave the biopic an A CinemaScore. Box office analysts knew the film would play older but hoped the attention surrounding the 2024 presidential election would broaden the audience, with no such luck. Roughly 85 percent of ticket buyers are over the age of 35 — including an unheard of 66 percent over the age of 55, setting Reagan up for a promising run on premium VOD, a preferred platform for older consumers.

Ten million dollars in box office for an indie film with an indie distributor is actually pretty impressive. The Oklahoman notes that the Oklahoma-filmed movie essentially doubled expectations before release:

The first full-length film about President Ronald Reagan commanded $7.4 million at the North American box office over the three-day weekend, with an estimated cumulative total of $9.2 million including projections for the Monday holiday, reports The Associated Press.

Released by independent distributor ShowBiz Direct, the biographical drama about America's 40th president almost doubled projections that it would make about $5 million in its opening weekend. It will finish at No. 4 at the domestic box office, based on estimated ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters through Labor Day.

Between "Reagan," which filmed primarily in Guthrie, and the persistent blockbuster "Twisters," which filmed across the Sooner State, two movies made in Oklahoma landed in the Top 5 at the domestic box office over the holiday weekend.

It's not just the hometown crowd pointing this out either. Newsweek also reports that Reagan exceeded expectations, using data from earlier in the weekend. Billie Schwab Nunn pointed out that it got no help from critics, either:

While Reagan, Sean McNamara's new movie, has received largely negative reviews from critics, it has beaten box office expectations during its first weekend, ranking No. 4 on the charts. ...

The film had its cinematic release on Friday, and over Labor Day weekend, it was the only new release competitive with holdover films that opened earlier this summer. It earned $7.4 million Friday through Sunday, with an estimated cumulative total of $9.2 million, including projections for Monday.

Reagan won't ever do the kind of business that Deadpool and Alien franchise films will do. Scoring $10 million on a reported $25 million budget while competing against them is still pretty impressive, especially with the per-screen average as high as it is. That could convince cinemas to add screens next weekend, or at least not withdraw them. It shows that American audiences have a taste for American stories about America's successes. And that in itself is a triumph, especially if it results in (a) bigger audiences in the second week, and (b) more films telling American stories about America's successes in the future, large and small.

Read my review here. Christian Toto and I will discuss this more later on our Off the Beaten Path episode tonight.