TAGGED AS: Box Office, Horror
(Photo by © Universal Pictures)
Until this year there were only ever six films to open in October and gross $150 million or more. And never two within the same year. 2018 is going to see three. Venom is already there and approaching $200 million. A Star is Born will be crossing the line this week and the no. 1 film for the second weekend in a row, Halloween, could be there by the end of next weekend, having earned $32 million this weekend. Those are pretty extraordinary numbers, particularly with two of the films having opened on the same weekend.
David Gordon Green’s Halloween led the box office for a second straight week, and has now made $126.6 million in its first 10 days. Could the movie pass Get Out ($176 million domestically) to become Blumhouse’s highest domestic grosser, and could it reach the $200 million mark? With an October 31 bump, and horror still on people’s minds, it does have a chance. Of the 11 films to gross between $123 million and $129 million in their first 10 days, eight of them reached $200 million: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Maleficent, WALL-E, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, World War Z, Superman Returns, and Spectre. Venom was at $142 million on its 10th day ($14 million ahead of Halloween) and is going to reach $200 million with little fuss, with a current total of $187 million.
(Photo by Jack English /© Summit Entertainment /Courtesy Everett Collection)
The lowest opening Gerard Butler has ever had with a film bowing in more than 2,500 theaters was the romantic comedy, Playing for Keeps. It started with $5.7 million in 2,837 theaters. The submarine thriller, Hunter Killer, which sits at 36% on the Tomatometer, made just $6.6 million this weekend in 2,728 theaters for a $2,419 per-theater-average. Playing for Keeps posted a $2,027 average and Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla, in which Butler also starred, posted a $2,267 average. Elsewhere this weekend, PureFlix’s faith-based Indivisible (64% on the Tomatometer) made just $1.5 million in 830 theaters, which was the distributor’s smallest opening weekend since last year’s A Question of Faith was released in 661 theaters to a cool $1 million.
(Photo by @ Amazon Studios)
Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born continues its impressive run. The film has now earned $148 million in 24 days, putting it between 2012 and The LEGO Batman Movie on the all-time chart for earnings at this stage of its run, which suggests a final gross between $166 million and $175 million. Though you can expect a more likely final total between $176 and $188 million. Its worldwide total is up to $253 million. Venom, meanwhile, has earned over $186 million in the same timeframe, which places it between The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure: Book of Secrets at this point in its release, giving it a final estimate of $217-$219 million. Its worldwide total stands at $508 million.
Johnny English Strikes Again (32% on the Tomatometer) did not make the top 10 this week, making $1.6 million – albeit in just 544 theaters. (That’s a better per-theater-average than Hunter Killer and Indivisible.) But the film has already topped over $100 million worldwide, which is more than can be said of Universal’s First Man, which is now sitting at $74 million worldwide ($37.8 million of which has been earned in the U.S.). Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid90s (Certified Fresh at 78%), cracked the top 10 with $3 million after expanding to 1,206 theaters. That $2,487 per-theater-average is a far cry from last week’s $58,000 per-theater-average, earned from four theaters, which was the sixth best in A24’s history. Its total take now stands at $3.3 million.
Amazon’s Beautiful Boy with Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet was upped to 190 theaters and grossed $592,000 for a total of $1.4 million. It will expand nationwide next weekend. Fox Searchlight’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?, starring Oscar hopeful Melissa McCarthy – one of the year’s best-reviewed movies, with a 99% Tomatometer score – moved into 25 theaters and grossed $380,000 for a total of $610,000. Fox Searchlight also expanded David Lowery’s The Old Man & The Gun with Robert Redford into another 240 theaters (1,042 total); the film grossed $1.8 million for a total of $7.2 million.
Finally, Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria (69% on the Tomatometer) opened in just two theaters and grossed a huge $179,000. Its $89,500 per-theater-average is the highest of 2018, surpassing Eighth Grade, which had a $65,949 per-theater-average from four theaters on its first weekend. The number up there with some of the biggest-ever two-theater openings, such as Aladdin ($196,664), Evita ($195,085), The Nightmare Before Christmas ($191,232), and There Will Be Blood ($190,739)
(Photo by © Lionsgate /courtesy Everett Collection)
The final week of October 2017 featured the return of the Saw franchise with Jigsaw. Though it opened at no. 1 with $16.6 million, audiences virtually ignored it for the rest of its run, making it the second lowest-grossing film in the series with just over $38 million total. (Saw VI grossed just $27.4 million in 2009 after the Paranormal Activity series replaced Saw as the go-to franchise for the Halloween season.) On the other hand, Jigsaw’s opening number was better than the combined final grosses of the Certified Fresh Thank You For Service ($3.8 million opening / $9.5 million total) and George Clooney’s Rotten Suburbicon ($2.8 million opening / $5.7 million total). The weekend’s top 10 grossed a total just shy of $57.9 million and averaged 55.2% on the Tomatometer; this year’s top 10 grossed an estimated $92.1 million with an average Tomatometer score of 64.9%.
(Photo by © 20th Century Fox)
It’s the tale of departing directors next weekend, starting with Bryan Singer’s (and Dexter Fletcher’s) tale of Freddie Mercury and Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody will likely shoot to the no. 1 spot and Fox is hoping to draw enough attention to Rami Malek’s performance as Mercury to make him a serious awards contender. Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms from Lasse Hallström (and Joe Johnston) may be more in the A Wrinkle in Time /Alice Through the Looking Glass realm for the studio of the box office. Tyler Perry returns with just his second R-rated film to date, Nobody’s Fool, with Tiffany Haddish in the lead.
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on WGN Radio with Nick Digilio as well as on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
