Warner Bros.’ Rough Year Continues as ‘Practical Magic 2’ Underperforms After Being Massively Hyped

Warner Bros. entered this fall movie season needing a genuine hit, and on paper, ‘Practical Magic 2′ looked like exactly the kind of nostalgia-driven crowd-pleaser that could deliver one. Reuniting Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman nearly three decades after the original cult classic, the sequel carried built-in millennial and Gen Z goodwill heading into release.

Early tracking data only reinforced that optimism, with the studio projecting a domestic opening weekend somewhere between $30 million and $40 million, backed by strong Thursday preview numbers. That kind of range would have marked one of Warner Bros.’ better openings of an otherwise difficult year at the box office.

That optimism didn’t survive opening weekend. ‘Practical Magic 2’ underperformed on Friday with only around $7.5 million plus previews, a steep drop from the $30 million to $40 million weekend some outlets had floated just days earlier.

Industry tracker F*XOXO offered a similar read on the numbers, estimating the film at roughly $7.75 million for Friday alone, with weak walk-up business dragging down what had otherwise been healthy advance ticket sales. The gap between pre-release tracking and actual opening-day performance suggests the film’s built-in nostalgia didn’t translate into the broad turnout Warner Bros. was counting on.

The disappointing opening lands especially hard given the broader context surrounding Warner Bros.’ theatrical business this year. Warner Bros. Discovery reported a 46 percent year-over-year decline in theatrical revenue during the second quarter of 2026, a jarring contrast to 2025, when the studio became the first to cross $4 billion at the worldwide box office and picked up 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Box office analyst Gitesh Pandya noted that Warner Bros. reached September without a single 2026 release crossing $100 million domestically, making it the only major studio without a nine-figure domestic grosser this year. That drought includes a string of ambitious original bets, from Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ to Anne Hathaway’s ‘The End of Oak Street,’ none of which managed to break through in a meaningful way.

‘Practical Magic 2’s’ critical reception hasn’t helped matters either, with the sequel sitting at 34 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, only marginally better than the 30 percent score the original film received back in 1998. Critics have pointed to similar issues that plagued the first film, including jarring tonal shifts between whimsical romantic comedy and full supernatural horror.

With ‘Practical Magic 2’ failing to deliver the breakout hit Warner Bros. needed, attention is shifting toward ‘Dune: Part Three’ as potentially the studio’s only release capable of crossing $100 million domestically this year. That’s a significant amount of pressure to place on a single late-year release, especially given how consistently 2026 has disappointed for the studio across genres and budget levels.

The irony isn’t lost on industry watchers, given that ‘Practical Magic 2’ was specifically positioned as a low-risk, high-reward nostalgia play designed to course-correct the studio’s rough year. Shot for a relatively modest $75 million against genuine built-in fan affection for the original film, the sequel represented exactly the kind of economical bet meant to steady the ship.

Whether the film can still find its footing through strong word of mouth in the coming weeks remains to be seen, but its opening-weekend stumble adds yet another entry to what’s already been a historically difficult year for Warner Bros. at the box office. With ‘Dune: Part Three’ now carrying outsized expectations, the studio’s fall slate suddenly looks a lot less secure than it did just a few days ago.

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