Blue Beetle Star's New Franchise Movie Breaks Box Office Curse After 3 Years

Published Sep 19, 2026, 11:48 AM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

Sign in to your ScreenRant account

Practical Magic 2 has broken a box office curse for one of its stars.

The new legacy sequel, which debuted in theaters on September 10, is a direct follow-up to 1998's Practical Magic and features the return of stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witch sisters Sally and Gillian Owens. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest also return in 2026's Practical Magic 2 as the Owens' aunts Franny and Jet, alongside a new supporting cast that includes Joey King and Maisie Williams as Sally's daughters Kylie and Antonia, Lee Pace as Sally's love interest Ian, Xolo Maridueña as Kylie's love interest Gideon, and Solly McLeod as the warlock Tom Lockland.

Practical Magic 2 was directed by Bird Box's Susanne Bier from a screenplay by original co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman alongside Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Practical Magic 2 is projected to earn a 3-day total of $3.1 million during its sophomore weekend at the domestic box office. This sees it bringing its cumulative domestic total to $48.6 million.

This total sees Practical Magic 2 surpassing the $46.7 million domestic gross of the original 1998 Practical Magic. For star Xolo Maridueña, this marks the first time that one of his movies has become the highest-grossing installment of its franchise at the domestic box office. The Cobra Kai star's first franchise movie was the 2023 DC Extended Universe superhero movie Blue Beetle, a theatrical flop which was the fourth lowest-grossing movie of the entire 15-film franchise at the domestic box office (behind only Shazam! Fury of the Gods, 2021's The Suicide Squad, and Wonder Woman 1984).

He followed that by playing a voice role in the 2025 animated movie Smurfs, which became the lowest-grossing installment of its own film franchise at the domestic box office. Below, see how Practical Magic 2's new domestic record compares to his previous franchise output:

Title	Domestic Franchise Ranking
Blue Beetle (2023)	#12 of 15
Smurfs (2025)	#4 of 4
Practical Magic 2 (2026)	#1 of 2

Even though Practical Magic 2 is setting a record at the domestic box office during its sophomore weekend, it still remains to be seen if the movie is able to turn a profit in theaters. The sequel comes with a sizable reported budget of $75 million, which could place its estimated break-even point as high as $187.5 million. So far, it has earned less than $100 million worldwide.

Regardless, it has ended a curse for Xolo Maridueña, who has the potential to keep up this momentum after Practical Magic 2. The star is set to reprise the role of Blue Beetle in the upcoming Man of Tomorrow, the 2027 sequel to 2025's Superman. That movie is the fourth installment in the newly rebranded soft relaunch of the franchise, now called the DC Universe. It seems highly likely that the Superman movie will outgross the DCU's 2026 flop Supergirl and its upcoming villain movie Clayface (which is R-rated and thus has a more limited potential audience).

If Man of Tomorrow is able to outgross its 2025 predecessor (which earned a solid, but not unbeatable, $354.2 million at the domestic box office) when it debuts next July, Maridueña could have two franchise-topping sequels in a row, now that Practical Magic 2 has gotten the ball rolling.

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