Pleasant autumn weather and no surprises at the box office left ‘Smile’ on top of Weekend Box Office Top 5.
The horror flick took a 22% dip in its second weekend staying ahead of new releases. ‘Smile’ stars Sosie Bacon and Kal Penn. The movie is directed by Parker Finn and is adapted from his 2020 short film, ‘Laura Hasn’t Slept’.
It may be the last weekend for ‘Smile’ to be on top. This Friday will see the release of ‘Halloween Ends’ starring Jamie Lee Curtis. That film is set to be the finale of the franchise, much like the myriad of franchise finales that happen mid-franchise. The slasher genre is most notorious for this. From ‘Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter’ to ‘Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning’ and ‘Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare’ which was followed by ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’ and ‘Freddy vs. Jason’. The latter bringing together the iconic villains from ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. How long before Michael Myers, the masked killer from the ‘Halloween’ franchise joins them?
New releases played mostly flat over the weekend.
Children’s film ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ opened to $11.5 million. An animated live-action hybrid, the musical children’s film features the voice of Shawn Mendes. Constance Wu and Javier Bardem also star.
Director David O. Russell’s comedy mystery ‘Amsterdam’ failed to uncover an audience. Featuring an all-star cast of Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Christian Bale and many more, the film made a paltry $6.5 million. With a budget of around $80 million that makes ‘Amsterdam’ one of the years biggest flops.
Holdovers ‘The Woman King’ and ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ round out the Weekend Box Office Top 5. ‘The Woman King’ dropped 22% whilst ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ took the biggest dip with 49%.
After ‘Halloween Ends’, the box office may find solace in superhero flick ‘Black Adam’ and romantic comedy ‘Ticket to Paradise’.
‘Black Adam’ stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the eponymous villain from DC comics taking on the Justice Society, a superhero group led by Dr. Fate, played by Pierce Brosnan.
‘Ticket to Paradise’ pairs Julia Roberts with George Clooney in what is already a successful return of the genre. The film has earned $60 million overseas where it has enjoyed an early release prior to opening stateside.
As for ‘Halloween Ends’, given that it’s a day-and-date release straight to streaming, the box office for it is expected to be muted. The popularity of the franchise and timely seasonal opening will help it take the top spot in theaters nonetheless.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (October 7 – 9, 2022)
- ‘Smile’ – $17.6 million – horror (drop $5 million, 22% down)
- ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ – $11.5 million – children’s film (debut)
- ‘Amsterdam’ – $6.5 million – comedy (debut)
- ‘The Woman King’ – $5.3 million – historical (drop $1.5 million, 22% down)
- ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ – $3.5 million – mystery (drop $3.3 million, 49% down)
Total for the Weekend Box Office Top 5 comes to $44.4 million. This is a drop of $1.7 million, a small decline of 4% from last weekend’s total of $46.1 million.