No records were broken this weekend on the positive or negative ends of things, but people did still go to the movies. October is in full swing, and it is turning into a collection of films all out to do better business than the Joker sequel. Last week’s horror sequel continued to draw as a new horror sequel led the way and is hoping to capture the same word-of-mouth that turned the first into a nine-figure success. Reviews appear to be a wee bit stronger this time around, even if the box office numbers are pretty much the same.
King of the Crop: Smile 2 Notches a Respectable Debut
Parker Finn’s Smile was Paramount’s biggest original hit since 2018’s A Quiet Place and certainly one of their best successes overall in that time. The 2022 film opened to $22.6 million and finished with over $105 million domestic. That was a 4.68 multiple, a number the studio has not hit since the late September opening of the $17 million production. Smile 2 reportedly came in with a modest increase to $28 million on the budget front and opened this weekend to a slight improvement ($23 million) in what could also be called a stable number. It’s not the kind of sequel openings we have seen with franchises like Paranormal Activity, Saw, and Halloween, nor the explosive start from last year’s Five Nights at Freddy’s. But it will do for now.
The third weekend of October has had its share of horror offerings and bigger openings on the pre-pre-Halloween weekend. Smile 2 is the 18th film to open this weekend over $20 million. Only five of those films (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Fury, Goosebumps, Red, and Law Abiding Citizen) went on to gross more than three times their opening, but four of them (the latter four) were in the $21-24 million opening range. Next weekend, Smile 2′s primary challenge will be the new Venom film, and November is not exactly frontloaded, which, if word-of-mouth stands, should give Smile 2 a decent runway to stay in the top five through the middle of next month. The original grossed over $111 million internationally. So far it has taken in another $23 million, but the film should have no problem turning another profit if not nearly as big as the first entry.
The Top 10 and Beyond: The Wild Robot Holds Steady, Terrifier Drops to Third
In second place is Chris Sanders’ The Wild Robot. If you believe the stories that Terrifier people are buying tickets to this to get into its non-rated mayhem, then the numbers for both films are pretty extraordinary; $10.1 million in its fourth weekend is just a 28% drop from the last, bringing its 24-day total to $101.7 million. That’s the ninth-best total for a September opener in that timeframe and is now on pace to match or eclipse Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ totals. That film had an $11.5 million fourth weekend and now trails Robot by $6 million, which ups our estimate to $125-130 million domestic. It has grossed over $94 million internationally for a current global total of $196 million, and coupled with its eventual domestic haul, that should be more than enough to get the film into profit.
Last week’s headline grabber, Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, had a 50.9% drop to $9.3 million. That’s a little better than your average horror film (yes, the first Smile fell just 18.3%), none of which have opened in October to over $15 million and dropped less than 40% since the original Saw 20 years ago in 2004. Terrifier 3 is up to $36.2 million in 10 days, and that is not far off from Ang Lee’s Gemini Man, which had $36.3 million but a less impressive $8.3 million second weekend. At that rate, the $2 million production of Terrifier 3 is flirting with a final gross of $50 million. That may come up short of beating Joker Deux, but the disparity in success vs. failure in the evil clown films is massive.
Meanwhile, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has been there for weeks now, and with over $430 million in the bank worldwide, the only question is whether or not it will get to the magic $300 million domestically. A haul of $5 million in its seventh weekend brings the total up to nearly $284 million. Attack of the Clones has been the guiding light for it over time, so sticking with that, we see it at $286.2 million after seven weekends. That film also had the benefit of summer weekend dollars, so most of Beetlejuice’s gains have been thanks to its better weekend holds. Clones was down to $3.6 million in its seventh, but it was also $4 million ahead of Beetlejuice’s pace last weekend, and that has shrunk to $2.3 million. If that continues, the latter may just creep over the $300 million line. Be patient, though, as it took Clones another nine weekends to get there.
A24 never got Sing Sing into more than 191 theaters this past summer, but they quickly moved John Crowley’s We Live In Time into 955 theaters in its second weekend. The weepy relationship drama with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield grossed $4.19 million, a weekend alone outgrossing their Oscar hopeful Sing Sing’s $2.4 million. The numbers are better than last year’s release of Beau Is Afraid, which expanded from four theaters to 965 in its second weekend and grossed $2.66 million. That film had $3.5 million after 10 days and finished with $8.1 million. We Live In Time has made $4.5 million so far.
Transformers One remains one of the bigger disappointments of the season for Paramount, as it dropped back to eighth place and now holds a domestic total of $56.6 million and $120 million globally. The latter number is less than what Bumblebee made here in the States. Joker: Folie A Deux can at least brag it did better than that, but at a cost of at least 2.5 times Transformers’ budget, it’s certainly not a high horse situation. Perhaps we spoke too soon when saying no records were broken this weekend, but no matter how many asterisks you want to put by it, the $2.18 million that Todd Phillips’ sequel made is the worst non-pandemic era third weekend ever for a film costing $180 million or more.
Rounding out the top ten, Morgan Neville’s Lego Pharrell Williams documentary, Piece by Piece, made $2.1 million for a total of $7.6 million. Not a bad number for a doc, though less so for one that cost $16 million. That’s still almost as much as Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night has made — just $1.8 million in its second week of wide release for a total of $7.6 million. The Nightmare Before Christmas re-release added another $1.22 million in 1,860 theaters to bring its total to $4.9 million. Last year the film brought in $10.2 million in three weeks. Disney also put Hocus Pocus back in 1,480 theaters and it grossed $863,000.
In big limited release news, Neon released Sean Baker’s Anora with Mikey Madison in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles this weekend. One of the best reviewed films of the year, it now also has the highest per-theater average of the year ($91,751), as it grossed an estimated $551,000. It is also one of the best six-theater launches ever, ranking fifth behind Asteroid City ($845,143), American Hustle ($740,455), Blue Jasmine ($612,064), and Midnight in Paris ($599,003)
Outside of the top 10, people continue to find Mubi’s release of The Substance, which fell just 21% from last weekend, grossing $870,000 in 548 theaters. It has made $13.3 million to date. Mubi also put the new 4K restoration of Tarsem’s The Fall in 78 theaters, and it grossed $166,000. Bleecker’s Street’s release of Guy Maddin’s Rumours, meanwhile, made a scant $314,000 in 560 theaters for a PTA of just $499. Finally, it has happened. Deadpool & Wolverine passed Barbie to become the 12th highest-grossing film domestically of all time. It grossed $679,000 in its 13th weekend for a total of $636.3 million.
On the Vine: Venom: The Last Dance Looks to Dominate
As mentioned earlier, Venom: The Last Dance hopes to make the big splash that Joker failed to do and then some. Both previous Venom films grossed a near equal $213.5 million and change, and $1.36 billion combined worldwide. Focus is also opening their awards player, Conclave, the papal thriller with Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow, which is a hit with critics so far. There is also the animated Memoir of a Snail from Mary & Max director Adam Elliot. IFC is releasing the film, which is currently sitting on a perfect 100% on the Tomatometer.
Full List of Box Office Results: October 18-20, 2024
-
85%
83%
Smile 2
(2024)
– $23 million ($23 million total)
-
98%
98%
The Wild Robot
(2024)
– $10.1 million ($101.7 million total)
-
75%
87%
Terrifier 3
(2024)
– $9.3 million ($36.2 million total)
-
77%
80%
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
(2024)
– $5 million ($284 million total)
-
80%
88%
We Live in Time
(2024)
– $4.1 million ($4.5 million total)
-
32%
32%
Joker: Folie à Deux
(2024)
– $2.18 million ($56.4 million total)
-
83%
90%
Piece By Piece
(2024)
– $2.1 million ($7.6 million total)
-
89%
98%
Transformers One
(2024)
– $1.9 million ($56.6 million total)
-
79%
84%
Saturday Night
(2024)
– $1.8 million ($7.6 million total)
-
95%
92%
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993)
– $1.22 million ($4.8 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 ©Cineverse
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