Audiences were looking for one good scare this weekend and they got one with the release of Halloween. The highly-anticipated horror film scared up a number one finish at the box office and set some records while it was at it.
Halloween grossed an estimated $77.5 million over the weekend which gives it the second-best October opening behind Venom’s $80.2 million debut a few weeks ago. Despite coming up short of that record, Halloween broke a few records of its own. Halloween’s Friday came in at $33.2 million which represents the largest opening Friday for the month of October. With that gross, the film topped the previous franchise-best opening weekend of Rob Zombie’s Halloween in 2007 in a single day. The opening is also the biggest horror opening featuring a female lead, the biggest opening weekend starring a woman over 55, the second biggest horror opening behind last year’s IT, and in a single weekend, the film has become the highest grossing film of the franchise, topping the $58.2 million final gross of Rob Zombie’s remake. Also, for Blumhouse Productions, it’s also the biggest opening weekend for their company as well, topping the $52.5 million of 2011’s Paranormal Activity 3.
Halloween is likely to top the box office next weekend as well since there is little no competition and moviegoers usually seek out spooky films during the latter weeks of October. Its namesake lands on a Wednesday this year, which should be a stellar day for the film as well. With good reviews and a solid “B+” CinemaScore, Halloween should see some decent legs in the weeks ahead.
Maintaining its second place position is A Star is Born with an estimated $19.3 million. That’s a drop of 32.2% which is another solid hold for the Oscar hopeful. The film has grossed $126.3 million to date and that gross is even more impressive considering that the film hasn’t hit the number one spot since its release. Internationally, A Star is Born remained strong, delivering an estimated $22.8 million from 75 overseas markets, pushing the film’s worldwide total to $201.1 million
Falling to third is Venom which grossed an estimated $18.1 million. That’s a drop of 48.3% which is pretty decent considering it probably shares a bit of the same audience with Halloween. The film has grossed $171.1 million to date it’s still the #1 international release for the third straight week, bringing in an estimated $32.3 million from 65 overseas markets for an international gross totaling $290.7 million and a worldwide total of $461.2 million.
Dropping to fourth is Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween which grossed an estimated $9.7 million. The film dropped 38.5% and has another week and a few days to make some money before the Halloween season officially ends. The film has grossed $28.8 million after ten days of release.
Rounding out the top five is First Man which grossed an estimated $8.5 million. The film dropped a hefty 46.5% and last week I stated that I would have to wait until its second weekend to determine if the film was underperforming and now I can say I think it is a bit. I’m sure the studio expected a bit more but it’s sure to be an Oscar contender so they will at least have that on their side. The domestic total currently stands at $29.9 million.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
