Horror film ‘Smile’ happily eclipses ‘Bros’

Moviegoing audiences chose the horror movie over the romantic comedy to kick off the month of October. Paramount’s “Smile” topped the North American charts with $22 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, leaving Billy Eichner’s rom-com “Bros” in the dust.

Universal’s “Bros” launched with an estimated $4.8 million to take fourth place behind “Don’t Worry Darling” ($7.3 million) and “The Woman King” ($7 million). But opening weekends likely aren’t the final word on either “Bros” or “Smile.”

Horror movie audiences are generally front-loaded, dropping off steeply after the first weekend, while something like “Bros,” which got great reviews and an A Cinemascore, suggesting strong word-of-mouth potential, is a movie that could continue finding audiences through the fall.

It is not unusual for R-rated comedies to open modestly and catch on later.

“Bros” is significant for being the first gay rom-com given a wide theatrical release by a major studio, as well as the first studio movie starring and co-written by an openly gay man.

Since premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, the film has gotten stellar reviews from critics and also been the target of “review

bombs” on IMDB. The site last week removed hundreds of one-star reviews for “Bros” that were logged before the film was released.

It’s also hard to compete with a new horror movie in October. “Smile,” written and directed by Parker Finn in his directorial debut, stars Sosie Bacon as a therapist haunted by smiling faces after a traumatic event.

According to exit polls, 52% of the audience was male and 68% were ages 18-34 for the R-rated film. Playing in 3,645 locations, “Smile” started strong with $2 million from Thursday night previews, too, and had a 4% uptick Saturday, which is almost unheard of for genre films that usually decline after the first night.

“Smile” also cost only $17 million to produce.

The “Smile” marketing team last weekend planted smiling actors at baseball games around the country as a marketing stunt, which Aronson said helped push the movie over the top.

Second place went to “Don’t Worry Darling” in its second weekend in theaters, with $7.3 million, down 64% from its opening.

And “The Woman King” was close behind in third place in its third weekend, with an estimated $7 million, down only 36% from last weekend.

Rounding out the top five was the re-release of “Avatar,” with $4.7 million from 1,860 locations.

Notably, the film with the highest per-theater average was the Indian epic “Ponniyin Selvan: I,” which earned $4.1 million from just 510 theaters.

TERRY PIERSON — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Helping hands: Rancho Cucamonga High School students cheer on their team in the first half of a nonleague football game in Rancho Cucamonga on Sept. 23.