Another weekend for movie theaters to be filled with dancing, singing, and crying for the lengthy spectacle once thought never to be seen on the big screen… and that’s just the Scorsese fans. All kidding aside, there was room for both the Swifties and the Marties in theaters this weekend. Taylor’s fans did win again, but people also showed up for another R-rated three-hour-plus adult drama from one of cinema’s greatest.
Queen of the Crop: The Reign of Taylor Swift Continues
After taking a few days off in an effort to hopefully keep theaters dancing in the aisles with larger crowds, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour resumed its unique run and deposited another $32 million into the total of the highest-grossing concert film ever made, but there certainly was a drop. The film’s $31 million tally is no small chunk of change, but a 67% drop was around what we concluded last week could very well be a detriment to it reaching $200 million. Well, that and not playing on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. It all makes for a less direct comparison, but even in just five days of release, its estimated $108.9 million puts it just outside the top 100 grossers of all time. Through the weekend the film is over $130 million, after which it will take another three-day break and return to battle possessed animatronic puppets this weekend. We’ll see if AMC decides to part with that strategy when they realize they will likely come up short of the next big milestone without those extra showtimes. Then again, The Eras Tour should very well remain in the top 10 at least through Thanksgiving weekend.
The Top 10 and Beyond: Killers of the Flower Moon Debuts at No. 2
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon opened in second this weekend with $23 million, a number that one of the most celebrated filmmakers who has ever lived failed to hit until 2006 with the release of The Departed. Killers of the Flower Moon is Scorsese’s third-biggest opening behind that film’s $26.8 million start and Shutter Island’s $41 million. On the other hand, the number is old hat for Leonardo DiCaprio, as this is the seventh time one of his films opened to $20 million or higher (eight if you count the expansion of The Revenant). He also currently boasts a streak of his last four films reaching $100 million, and that could be a tough proposition for this one.
Since 2002, no film released in the final two weekends of October that opened to less than $32 million has reached $100 million. The Ring’s $15 million start was the last to achieve it. If Flower Moon holds for at least $11-12 million next weekend, it could be headed for a final total around $70-75 million. Meanwhile, Apple will be hoping the $200 million production can muster up some of that DiCaprio magic overseas. The Great Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant, and Once Upon a Time In Hollywood all grossed between $206-276 million internationally. Flower Moon has mustered up just $21 million so far.
In fourth place this week is Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, falling 36% to $4.4 million. The film’s 24-day total now stands at $56 million. That is about $3.2 million behind the pace of the animated Storks, which had a fourth weekend of $5.6 million. The rescue dogs are toying with a pace to hit $70 million and could still come up just short. The film has also made over $76 million overseas, and given the $30 million production, it’s made a nice profit already. The same number was spent on David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer, which took a 49% drop to $5.6 million and third place. That has the film lining up a few million ahead of where the fifth Saw film was, which ultimately finished with $56.7 million. Halloween weekend should help push Believer towards a $60+ million finish, and with over $53 million outside North America, the first film in the planned trilogy is into profit.
The latest in the Saw series has been holding remarkably well and is going to finish not far behind the new Exorcist. A 37% drop to $3.6 million for Saw X this weekend brings the film up to $47.2 million and assures that it is headed over $50 million. It is also the second-best fourth weekend of the franchise behind only Saw II, which made $3.9 million. Spiral and Saw VI are the only entries to not gross at least $100 million around the globe. The tenth film currently stands at over $78 million. The Nun II, meanwhile, is over $85 million domestic alone and over $258 million worldwide.
Two weeks ago, Disney re-released Hocus Pocus into theaters for its 30th Anniversary, and it has grossed $3.69 million. This weekend, the studio did the same for the same anniversary of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it climbed all the way to fourth place with $4.3 million. The original 1993 release grossed just over $50 million. Since then, with various reissues and 3-D releases, Henry Selick’s film has added another $31 million to its theatrical total. Meanwhile another Leo — literally a film called Leo: Bloody Sweet — had the largest opening ever for a Kollywood film in India. The action film grossed $2.4 million across North America this weekend and has made $4.9 million in just 720 theaters.
20th Century Studios still has two films in the top 10, but neither are doing much for their bottom line. Gareth Edwards’ The Creator made another $2.7 million to bring its total to $36.8 million and $83+ million worldwide. Then Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting In Venice is down to $1.2 million bringing its total to nearly $41 million domestic and over $113 million worldwide. The studio just took Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders off its Dec. 1 date, leaving these two films as their final releases of 2023.
On the Vine: Five Nights at Freddy’s Finally Sees Release
Universal is taking the Halloween sequel route with Five Nights at Freddy’s this week: You can go to the theaters or you can catch it at home on Peacock starting Thursday evening. The PG-13 horror film based on the video game franchise hopes to take advantage of the pre-Halloween crowd and recoup its $25 million production cost.
Full List of Box Office Results: October 20-22, 2023
99%
TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR
(2023)
- $31 million ($129.7 million total)
92%
Killers of the Flower Moon
(2023)
- $23 million ($23 million total)
22%
The Exorcist: Believer
(2023)
- $5.6 million ($54.2 million total)
76%
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
(2023)
- $4.4 million ($56 million total)
95%
The Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993)
- $4.1 million ($4.1 million total)
79%
Saw X
(2023)
- $3.6 million ($47.2 million total)
67%
The Creator
(2023)
- $2.6 million ($36.7 million total)
100%
Leo
(2023)
- $2 million ($4.5 million total)
75%
A Haunting in Venice
(2023)
- $1.1 million ($40.9 million total)
52%
The Nun II
(2023)
- $887,000 million ($85.3 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by AMC Theaters
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