Typically, the weekend before Halloween is completely… er, dead at the box office, as people have a million other things to do, with parties, haunted houses, and other festivities. But his year, the perfect timing of the release of ‘Halloween’ plus the excellent buzz the film generated, is bucking the trend, as audiences decided to make room for a movie. This sequel earned an additional $32 million, a perfectly acceptable 58% drop from last week. Thanks to ‘Halloween’ and ‘Venom’, this has become the highest-grossing October of all time.
Because of the fact that the pre-Halloween weekend is usually a dud, nothing major was released. ‘A Star Is Born’ continues its steady performance heading into awards season. It will likely get its ass kicked next weekend, however, when ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ arrives. The film has opened in the UK and was #1 with $12.2M. But as of this weekend, ‘A Star Is Born’ made another $14.1M and landed at #2.
‘Venom’ took #3 with an additional $10.8M. This Spider-Man-free Sony picture has now crossed the $300M mark overseas and is likely to top $500M worldwide during its theatrical run.
‘Goosebumps 2’ continues to hover at #4 with $7.5M. The only new movie to crack the Top Five was the Gerard Butler action movie ‘Hunter Killer’ which earned $6.6M. Anything starring Gerard Butler is not meant to play well in the U.S. His market is overseas. Along those lines, the Rowan Atkinson comedy ‘Johnny English Strikes Back’ made a paltry $1.6M in the US in limited release, but has already raked in $100M overseas. Also in limited release, the Amazon horror remake ‘Suspiria’ made $89, 800 but had this year’s highest per-screen average.
TOP FIVE:
Halloween (Universal/Blumhouse/Miramax) – $32M- A Star Is Born (Warner Brothers) – $14.1M
- Venom (Sony) – $10.8M
- Goosebumps 2 (Sony) – $7.5M
- Hunter Killer (Lionsgate) – $6.6M
In addition to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, next week sees the release of Disney’s ‘Nutcracker and the Four Realms’. That family spectacle is expected to take the #1 spot, but the Freddie Mercury biopic is also generating a lot of buzz and unfortunately a lot of controversy as well. With Halloween falling on Wednesday, expect the movies tied to that holiday to drop significantly as more Thanksgiving/Christmas-themed family fare enters the market.
Check back to see how things go!
Source: Deadline
