Universal’s release of Blumhouse, Miramax and Trancas Halloween ends saw a thursday night of $5.4M from 3,200 cinemas with play starting at 5:00 p.m. That number is +11% compared to last year’s Halloween Kills previews, which were $4.85 million.
David Gordon Green’s third Halloween film in a subset trilogy within the franchise will gross approximately $55 million in 3,901 theaters this weekend. Halloween Ends cost $30 million before P&A. The image was exclusively seen in cinemas for a night before it also reached the streaming service Peacock at the paid subscriber level; Image became available at 8pm ET, just found out about deadline. Again, it’s not that Universal doesn’t have faith in cinema, Peacock needs more subscribers with 15 million paid subscribers. Much like Halloween Kills, which Uni also ran that cinema day-and-date on, the studio bought up the creative gamers’ backends and made them whole like the film was a tent pole given Peacock’s pivotal point -Hit.
Green’s first Halloween film of 2018, which brought back an older and wiser Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, is the trio’s best-grossing with $7.7 million in Thursday night’s preview, $33 million dollars on opening Friday and $76.2 million on its first weekend exclusive, which was theatrical. This film was also the 4th best opening for the month of October and even more amazingly electrified what was usually a dead zone for films in the second half of the month.
Last year Uni went to the movies day in and day out on Halloween Kills as a precaution for moviegoers during the pandemic and also to reinforce peacock subs. The picture was the best opening for a horror film during the pandemic and the second-best for a theatrical day and date title (after Black Widow’s $80 million) at $49.4 million after a preview of $4.85 million. Dollars on Thursday, which accounted for 21% of the picture’s $22.8 M first Friday.
Critics rated Green’s Halloween 2018 the best with a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it a B+. However, film critics have turned their backs on the sequels, giving Halloweens Kills and Halloween Ends ratings of 39% and 47% Rotten, respectively. Auds gave Halloween Kills a B CinemaScore (the average score for a genre film is between B and C+).
Lynsey Weatherspoon/Orion images
United Artists Releasing/Eon-directed drama Chinonye Chukwu has limited viewing this weekend until at 16 locations in ten markets. The film, about Emmett Till’s mother who vows to uncover the racism behind his lynching, is sitting at 100% off 43 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes after its world premiere at the New York Film Festival. Till will expand to additional markets and cinemas in the coming weeks.
Among those films that are regularly released is Paramount’s horror picture to smile estimated gross $1.5 million yesterday, -8% from Wednesday at 3,659, bringing the two week running total to $58.6M after a $26.4M second week. The film is expected to drop by 55% in its third round.
Family animation/live action titles from Sony Lyle, Lyle Crocodile finishes its first week with $15.4M in 4,350 cinemas. Thursday was estimated at $700,000, up 16% from Wednesday.
New Regency/20th Century Studios/Disney’s David O. Russell period comedy, Amsterdamwhich is expected to lose up to $100 million ended its first week with $9 million in 3,005 cinemas. Thursday was over $440,000-15% from Wednesday.
TriStars The Woman King booked at 3,342 ends its fourth week with $7.2Ma running sum of $56 million after a $420,000 Thursday, +10% from Wednesday at 3,342.
Those from NewLine don’t worry darling saw a third week of $5.2M at 3,324, a $40.2M running sum after a $365,000 Thursday, -2% from Wednesday.