Last year’s Labor Day box office was a bad one for movie theaters, posting the lowest total for the four-day weekend since the turn of the century. But thanks in good part to Warner Bros.’ “Crazy Rich Asians,” this Labor Day weekend is seeing a substantial rebound.

After a US$22 million three-day total, the Jon M. Chu romantic comedy is expected to push its weekend numbers to US$28.5 million today, while the combined grosses for all films this weekend is estimated to be at least US$121 million. That’s a 24 percent increase over last year’s US$97.8 million.

That also means that this summer’s total box office gross should close out at US$4.37 billion, up 16 percent from last year’s 11-year low of US$3.77 billion. That doesn’t include the opening week of “Avengers: Infinity War,” which would push the total to an industry record of US$4.78 billion.

“Crazy Rich Asians” and “The Meg” took a 1-2 finish on the charts, finishing what has been a stellar August for Warner Bros. The two films have combined for a domestic gross of US$240 million, with “The Meg” earning US$123 million and “Asians” earning US$117 million.

Though Warner Bros. hasn’t had a runaway hit like last year’s “Wonder Woman,” it had has several solid successes, with “Ocean’s 8” and “Ready Player One” joining the two August releases as the studio’s four US$100 million-plus grossers this year. This coming week, Warner Bros. will see its domestic total cross US$1 billion for the year, with their “Conjuring” spinoff “The Nun” opening next weekend.

(SD-Agencies)