SLASH FEST FOR ALL ITS RIVALS
‘Halloween’ revival, with Jamie Lee Curtis, earns a franchise-best $77.5 million.
Universal’s revival of the horror franchise “Halloween” made a killing at the box office this past weekend, scaring up a franchise-best $77.5 million, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore.
The debut marks the second-biggest horror opening weekend of all time (second only to “It,” which opened to $123.4 million in September 2017) and the second biggest October opening weekend ever (behind “Venom,” which debuted to $80.2 million just two weeks ago).
The sole new wide release of the weekend, “Halloween” outperformed analysts’ advance predictions of $60 million. After a giant $33.3-million Friday gross, some were projecting over the weekend that the movie could actually exceed $80 million and top the “Venom” record, but final estimates came in just a bit short of that lofty target. Internationally, the picture brought in an additional $14.3 million from 23 territories and earned $91.8 million globally.
A direct follow-up to John Carpenter’s 1978 original, “Halloween” ignores the 10 sequels and reboots created in the 40 years since Jamie
Lee Curtis originally starred as Laurie Strode, who survived Michael Myers’ killing spree. This time around, Strode is prepared to fight back when Myers returns.
“The debut for ‘Halloween’ is exhilarating,” said Jim Orr, the studio’s distribution chief. “And a testament to the really incredible job that the filmmakers did and the talent involved, led by the indomitable” Curtis.”
The movie, which was directed by veteran indie filmmaker David Gordon Green, earned positive reviews from audiences and critics with a B -plus rating on CinemaScore and a 80% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a rare feat for a slasher flick.
But Universal’s celebration may be tempered by the performance of astronaut drama “First Man,” which added $8.6 million in domestic receipts in its second weekend, for a cumulative $30 million. The 46% decline from last weekend is surely more than the studio would have liked for an adult-skewing prestige picture with awards season ambitions.
In contrast to the wide release of “First Man,” many of the season’s awards titles have gone the route of slow expansions. Two of those paid off with solid results over the weekend as the films entered wide release after building word of mouth in fewer theaters. Fox’s topical YA adaptation “The Hate U Give” expanded into 2,055 additional theaters (for a total of 2,303) and earned $7.5 million in its third weekend of release for a cumulative $10.6 million.
Fox Searchlight’s Robert Redford vehicle “The Old Man & the Gun” expanded into 574 more theaters (for a total of 802), earning $2.1 million in its fourth weekend for a cumulative $4.2 million.
In contrast, the wide expansion of Annapurna’s “The Sisters Brothers” into 1,012 additional theaters (1,141 total) fell flat, with just $742,014 grossed and a pitiful per-screen average of $650. The film has earned $2 million in five weeks, and it adds to the run of troubles Annapurna has experienced as the prestige production company attempts to build up its distribution arm.
In limited release, A24’s “Mid90s,” directed by Jonah Hill, opened in four theaters to an impressive $249,500 and a per-screen average of $62,375. That’s the thirdhighest opening weekend average of the year following National Geographic’s documentary “Free Solo” and A24’s own coming-of-age title “Eighth Grade.”
Fox Searchlight’s Melissa McCarthy drama “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is off to a solid start, with $150,000 earned across five locations, a strong per-screen average of $30,000 — a performance slightly above what the studio’s “Old Man & the Gun” opened to last month.