New franchises like Minecraft will form in the mountains, just as old franchises will gather dust for their inevitable nostalgic glow-ups down the road. The wheel in the sky keeps on turning. However, papering over shoddy storytelling with half-baked visual effects won't cut it in the long run. You have to spice things up.

Whatever mysterious power made those kids run away in Weapons must have also lent some of its black magic to Warner Bros. The studio extended its unprecedented turnaround this weekend with its seventh number one opening of the year.

“ Weapons ,” a twisty horror film about a group of missing children, and “ Freakier Friday ,” a body swap comedy, delivered a potent one-two punch at the box office this weekend, lifting ticket sales as summer movie season draws to a close.