Practical Magic 2 won its opening weekend. It just didn't win it by the margin anyone expected.

The sequel, reuniting Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman roughly three decades after the first film, collected $30 million across its first three days in North America, according to figures reported by Koimoi. That's enough for the top spot at the domestic box office. It is not enough to hit the $40 million to $50 million range that had reportedly been circulating ahead of release, a number that would have made it Warner Bros.' first 2026 title to clear $40 million out of the gate.

Instead, the film opened below two other recent Warner titles. Wuthering Heights debuted at $32.8 million. The Proposal opened at $33.6 million. Practical Magic 2 sits under both.

There's a brighter way to read the numbers, and it's the one Warner will probably lean on. Against its own predecessor, the sequel looks strong. The 1998 original opened to just $13.1 million domestically, a modest number even by late-90s standards. This new film has already pulled in about 2.3 times that figure in its first weekend alone. The original's entire domestic run topped out at $46.7 million, a total the sequel could match or beat by the end of its first week, maybe its second weekend if the drop is gentle.

Overseas, the picture is softer. Practical Magic 2 added $16 million internationally across 77 markets, bringing its worldwide total to $46 million after one weekend. For a film carrying two A-list names and built-in nostalgia from a title with a genuine cult following, that's a start, not a statement.

What happens next depends almost entirely on the drop. Fall counterprogramming, the kind of adult-skewing, female-led drama that doesn't rely on opening-weekend fireworks, tends to hold better than it opens, riding word of mouth through October rather than burning fast and fading. If Practical Magic 2 behaves that way, the modest debut stops mattering much. If it falls the way a lot of legacy sequels have this year, the conversation shifts fast from underwhelming to disappointing.

The film released September 11 in North America. Warner Bros. Hasn't put out its own reaction to the numbers yet, and with the studio still chasing that first $40 million opening of the year, how it frames this one will be worth watching over the next few days.