Horror movie Smile has defied expectations, dropping a scant 22% in its sophomore frame (the norm for horror movies is a 65% drop!), to earn an additional $17.6M, down only slightly from its $22M opening. This marks the second-best hold for an R-rated movie ever, just behind Get Out which only dipped 15%. Smile garnered positive but not glowing reactions from critics and audiences. Its budget was $17M, so this picture is well into the black at this point.
Smile was written and directed by Parker Finn and stars Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Kal Penn, and Rob Morgan.
This victory was an upset for the family picture Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, based on the beloved children’s book by Bernard Waber, which landed at #2 with $11.5M. (It will likely clear $13.5M by the end of Monday, which is a bank holiday in the U.S., Indigenous Peoples Day.) Audiences love it, lavishing Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile with four out of five stars and an 80% positive via PostTrak. Its Rotten Tomatoes certified audience score is 94%, but this one didn’t charm critics, who only gave it a 68% aggregate score.
Family movies tend to perform well over time, but Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile isn’t so much a “family” movie as it is a “kids” movie, mainly drawing those under nine years old and their parents. It’s what Hollywood calls a “hand-holder.” So we’ll see how this flick holds up next week.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile stars Javier Bardem and Constance Wu with pop star Shawn Mendes voicing the titular reptile.
This weekend’s third-place entry is kind of a turkey — David O. Russell’s arty all-star comedy Amsterdam. Despite Russell’s pedigree (American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter) and the cast which includes Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, John David Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Zoe Saldana, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Robert DeNiro, Timothy Olyphant, and more, this is a disaster with critics, with its Rotten Tomatoes score being a truly rotten 33%.
Its RT certified audience score is a more generous 64%. Interestingly, Amsterdam did fairly well with exiting audiences, who gave it a B via CinemaScore, however, it should be pointed out that many early attendees were film geeks and existing fans of Russell’s. Those polled by PostTrak were a little less generous, giving it three out of five stars and a 72% positive.
It earned a meager $6.5M over the weekend.
The Woman King landed at #4 with Don’t Worry Darling rounding out the Top Five. Check out the chart below:
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- Smile (Paramount) – 3-day $17.6M/Total $49.9M Wk 2
- Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) – 3-day $11.5M/Wk 1
- Amsterdam (Disney) – 3-day $6.5M/Wk 1
- The Woman King (Sony) – 3-day $5.3M/Total $54.1M/Wk 4
- Don’t Worry Darling (New Line/Warner Bros.) – 3-day $3.47M/Total $38.45M/ Wk 3
Next weekend could have seen a major blockbuster in the form of Halloween Ends, however, the decision was made by Universal Pictures to release this film simultaneously on Peacock, so the audiences in theaters will be significantly smaller than it might have been.
But it is possible that this could still take #1 from the currently reigning horror champ, Smile, based solely on the name recognition of the franchise.
Did you check out any of the big pictures this weekend? What will you be checking out next weekend?
