Topline
Halloween weekend turned into a horror show for the domestic box office, with theaters only bringing in an estimated $49 million-$53 million, according to early numbers reported by the Hollywood trade publications—marking one of the worst weekends of the year and capping the worst-performing October since the 1990s.
“Regretting You” led the box office over the weekend, but only grossed an estimated $8.1 million.
Paramount Pictures via Getty Images
Key Facts
“Regretting You,” an adaptation of a Colleen Hoover romance novel that debuted last weekend, marked a surprise win at the box office—grossing $8.1 million for the first place slot, although largely meeting projections, including those published by Box Office Pro.
“Black Phone 2,” the Blumhouse horror film starring Ethan Hawke, came in second place with $8 million on its third weekend in theaters.
A theatrical re-release of Netflix’s runaway hit “Kpop Demon Hunters” also failed to draw crowds, despite past success with limited theatrical releases, only grossing an estimated $6 million, Variety reported based on projections from rival studios (Netflix has not reported ticket sales).
“Chainsaw Man,” the anime film that became a surprise box office hit after its American debut last weekend, also posted a 66% loss over the weekend to only gross $6 million.
Key Background
October is traditionally a bad month for the box office, but this October was the lowest-performing October for the domestic box office in the last 27 years, not counting 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Box office cumulative gross dropped to just $425 million in October, according to data from Box Office Mojo. The last time it was that low for the month of October was 1998, when theaters grossed a total of $422 million.
Why Did The Box Office Perform So Poorly?
Some external factors could have contributed to this weekend’s poor performance. No new films debuted in theaters this weekend, although a wider release of Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia” managed to gross an estimated $4.8 million. Halloween also fell on a Friday, and the World Series went to game 7 on Saturday night. It likely did not help that one of the teams playing was the Los Angeles Dodgers, drawing spectators away from theaters in the city at the center for Hollywood film production. The poor performance during the rest of October might be explained by the lack of big debuts over the course of the month. The highly anticipated “Tron: Ares” was widely seen as a bomb, opening with only $33.2 million on a reported budget of $180 million. The second-biggest hit at the box office this month was “Black Phone 2,” which still only grossed $55.8 million in October.