Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.16.2022

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OPENINGS:  HALLOWEEN ENDS (Universal, also on Peacock) underperformed badly with $41.3M, about 25% below pre-release expectations, and 17% under the $49.4M start for last year’s Halloween Kills, despite a stronger Thursday night start than Kills ($5.4M vs $4.9M).  The excuse de jour is the Peacock release, which would be dubious in any case considering the size of the service (only paying subscribers have access to premium content like day-and-date films), but particularly inane considering that Kills was released exactly the same way just a year ago.  It’s far more likely that the decline was due to lousy word-of-mouth on both Ends and Kills that dwindled the audience to true believers, and the continuing strong presence in the market of Smile.  This Halloween trilogy has found a limited audience overseas (only 30% of the global total for Kills was outside the US), and that was true here as well, with a $17.2M launch in 77 markets.  All that being said, the costs for Halloween Ends were relatively low, so there should still be a decent amount of profit.

TICKET TO PARADISE (Universal), which will finally reach these shores next weekend, has accumulated $72M overseas.

HOLDOVERS:  Despite the direct competition from Halloween Ends, SMILE (Paramount) continued to hold extremely well, down just 33% in its 3rd weekend to $12.4M, and with a serious shot to hit $100M in the US.  It also has $66.4M overseas after a $16.3M weekend in 61 territories.

LYLE LYLE CROCODILE (Columbia/Sony) had an underwhelming start, but dropped just 35% to $7.4M in its 2nd weekend, and might get to $45M in the US.  It has $3.9M in early international release.

THE WOMAN KING (TriStar/Sony) stayed sturdy with a 29% drop to $3.7M in its 5th weekend, on its way to $70M in the US.  Its overseas total is much lower at $16.8M.

AMSTERDAM (20th/Disney) collapsed from its disastrous opening, down 55%to $2.9M, and unlikely to get much past $20M in the US on a production/marketing investment that was well over $100M.  It also has $6.5M internationally.

DON’T WORRY DARLING (UA/MGM) lost 38% to $2.2M in its 4th weekend and will still need a stretch to see $50M in the US.  It has $35.8M overseas.

BARBARIAN (20th/Disney) dipped 36% to $1.4M in its 6th weekend, and might reach $45M in the US, with $1.7M in early international release.

TERRIFIER 2 (Cinedigm) is reporting one of the strangest box office trajectories in memory.  According to the distributor, it zoomed from $32K on Thursday to $250K on Friday (a nearly 700% increase) despite losing 10% of its theaters, then rose another 70% on Saturday, for a $850K weekend that was actually up 5% from last weekend.  The closest anyone has tried to an explanation are reports of audience members getting violently ill during screenings.

LIMITED RELEASE:  TILL (Orion/MGM) began its awards-season campaign with an OK $15.1K weekend per-theater average at 16.  DECISION TO LEAVE (MUBI) launched with a $30.2K average at 3 NY/LA arthouses.  TAR (Focus/Universal) expanded to 36 with a fair $10K average, and TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (Neon) similarly widened to 31 with a $10.9K average.

NEXT WEEKEND:  The industry is hoping to have its first blockbuster since summer with BLACK ADAM (DC/Warners).  As noted, Ticket to Paradise will hope to counterprogram.  Awards season continues with the post-festival arrivals of THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (Searchlight/Disney) and AFTERSUN (A24).