`Halloween Ends' wins box office
No matter how you look at the numbers, “Halloween Ends” had a good opening weekend.
Touted as the final showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, the slasher pic earned $41.3 million in ticket sales from 3,901 theaters in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. It's the first film to open higher than $40 million since “Nope” debuted in July and it surpassed its production budget, which has been reported to be between $20 and $30 million. Including international showings, it boasts a global total of $58.4 million.
“We are extraordinarily excited that Blumhouse once again delivered an incredible film and another No. 1 opening,” said Jim Orr, Universal's head of domestic distribution. “Jamie Lee Curtis had audiences across North America engaged and terrified.”
The film also renewed an evergreen debate about day-anddate movie releases and some in Hollywood are wondering whether it could have been even bigger if it hadn't debuted simultaneously on Peacock, NBC Universal's streaming service.
Going into the weekend, some analysts had pegged “Halloween Ends” for an opening in the $50 to $55 million range. “Halloween Kills,” the previous installment in the David Gordon Green-directed “Halloween” trilogy,” opened day-and-date last year and still grossed $49 million on opening weekend.
Green's first “Halloween,” by contrast, debuted to $76.2 million in 2018. But that was prepandemic, theatrical release only and the highly anticipated revival of a beloved franchise with good reviews. His subsequent “Halloween” films were more divisive among critics and fans, however. “Kills” had a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score while “Ends” has a 40% and still opened over $40 million.
“The day-and-date model was put to the test again, but I think this is a mandate in favor of the movie theater,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Audiences had the option to watch it at home but they chose to go to the theater.”
Many studios experimented with day-and-date releases during the second year of the pandemic to varying results, but 2022 has seen most returning to traditional theatrical-first releases — especially for their most valuable brands and franchises.
Still, it triggered a self-proclaimed “rant” from filmmaker Christopher Landon, who tweeted this weekend that he felt his horror film “Freaky” was hurt by its simultaneous release in theaters and streaming in November 2020.
“Stop doing this. Please. It doesn't work. Studios: stop gambling with filmmakers and their movies to try and prop up your fledgling streaming services,” Landon wrote on Twitter. “I begged the studio not to do this...We got hosed.”