OPENINGS: With an assortment of excuses (the World Series! a video game release! Halloween! birthday parties?!?), VENOM: THE LAST DANCE (Marvel/Columbia/Sony) tottered to $51M in the US, down 43% from 2021’s Let There Be Carnage. At this point it seems to be heading for $125M domestically, down from $213.6M. Things are much stronger overseas, where Last Dance launched with $124M in 64 markets, 71% of the worldwide total, an even more lopsided result than Carnage‘s 58%. However, that has an asterisk: 37% of that international total was from China, which didn’t permit release of Carnage, and where the studio receives a much lower percentage of each box office dollar.
CONCLAVE (Focus/Universal) started nicely for an older-skewing drama at $6.5M. The Universal template would have it available on VOD after 3 weekends, so it remains to be seen how much momentum it can generate in theaters. It’s US-only for now.
YOUR MONSTER (Vertical) was low at $500K in 651 theaters, an $800 weekend per-theater average.
HOLDOVERS: While the first Smile slipped a remarkable 18% in its sophomore weekend, SMILE 2 (Paramount) had a more typical horror drop, down 59% to $9.4M. That suggests the US total will be considerably below Smile‘s $105.9M, although still profitable. Overseas, Smile 2 has $43M after a $12.6M weekend from 67 territories.
THE WILD ROBOT (DreamWorks Animation/Universal, also on VOD) dipped 36% to $6.5M in its 5th weekend, on track to pass $130M in the US. The international total is $121M after a $17.6M weekend in 79 markets.
WE LIVE IN TIME (A24) tripled its theater count (to 2968) but only rose 15% to $4.8M, which probably means it won’t get much past the $20M mark that’s been a wall for most non-genre indies in recent years. It’s had a negligible overseas release thus far.
TERRIFIER 3 (Cineverse) lost 49% to $4.8M in Weekend 3, and could reach $60M in the US on tiny costs. It also has $10.6M internationally.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (Warners, also on VOD) lost 35% to $3.2M in its 8th weekend, and is still pushing toward $300M in the US. Overseas, it’s lower but still substantial at $150.1M.
LIMITED RELEASE: ANORA (Neon) expanded to 34 theaters with a strong $25K average, very similar to the $28K average for Everything Everywhere All At Once when it was at 38. MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (IFC) averaged $14K at 5. DAHOMEY (MUBI) had a $9K average at 2.
NEXT WEEKEND: HERE (Columbia/Sony) will hope to take advantage of a sparsely populated frame. A REAL PAIN (Searchlight/Disney) begins limited release, as does Clint Eastwood’s JUROR NO. 2 (Warners), but it’s not clear whether the latter will be reporting its box office results.
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