Fans simply seem to be in the mood for a nice horror movie as we’re heading to the end of October. Halloween Kills slayed the box office with a better-than-anyone-expected $50.35 million opening weekend, despite poor reviews and earlier audience reactions. Usually, if a horror flick doesn’t go over well with initial audiences, the box office dies from Friday to Saturday, but Halloween Kills held on stronger than most dipping just 25%. Its PostTrak score among exiting viewers is a decent B-, with a 69% positive, and 52% recommend. Critics have lambasted it with a 33% Rotten Tomatoes score.
This marks the best horror opening during the pandemic, topping A Quiet Place Part II’s $47.5M, and the best R-rated opening, far surpassing The Suicide Squad‘s $26.2M. This is extra impressive as Halloween Kills was released for free to subscribers to Peacock’s premium tier… then again, there aren’t THAT many Peacock premium subscribers compared to HBO Max, Disney+, and the other services that have released films in theaters and on streaming at the same time.
Stated Universal Domestic Distribution Chief Jim Orr:
“The debut of Halloween Kills this weekend is a further reinforcement that audiences are eager to be in theaters to truly experience the energy created by what becomes a communal event, especially for this genre and this franchise. Our amazing director, David Gordon Green, and our lead, Jamie Lee Curtis, crafted an incredibly terrifying continuation of this franchise that our audience enthusiastically embraced this weekend.”
This also marks the third-best horror opening in October, trailing the last Halloween in 2019, which made $76.2M, and 2011’s Paranormal Activity 3, which made $52.5M. And of course, those were both pre-pandemic.
After its second weekend of being open in North America, No Time To Die has accumulated $447.5M worldwide– more than either Black Widow or Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (which has just dropped out of the Top Five). It looks as though it will soon surpass Godzilla Vs. Kong.
Rounding out the Top Five is Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel from 20th Century Studios and Disney.
Here is the full Top Five:
- Halloween Kills (Universal/Blumhouse/Miramax) – $50.4M/Wk 1
- No Time To Die (United Artist Releasing) – $24.3M/Total $99.5M/Wk 2
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) – $16.5M/Total $168M/Wk 3
- Addams Family 2 (United Arist Releasing) – $7.2M/Total $42.2M/Wk 3
- The Last Duel (20th Century Studios/Disney) – $4.8M/Wk 1
The big release next weekend will be Dune, however, no one knows just how big it will be. It’s a bit of a harder sell than most blockbusters of this caliber. It’s not a family-friendly popcorn flick. It’s a somewhat obscure property that isn’t particularly mainstream. Plus it’s not only being released on HBO Max, it’s being released on HBO Max 24 hours BEFORE it opens in theaters. That will surely have something of a negative impact on Dune’s box office performance.
But will the spectacle and excellent early reviews (89% on RT) be enough to entice people to head out to theaters? Check back to find out!
