Horror Rules As ‘Smile’ And ‘Terrifier 2’ Thrive Against ‘Halloween’

In holdover news for the weekend, Paramount’sPARA
Smile may have lost the battle against the mighty Michael Myers, but it’s still on track to win the war. Parker Finn’s buzzy $17 million, R-rated horror original earned $12.4 million domestic (-33%) and $16.3 million overseas (-16%) to bring its cume to $71.1 million domestic and $137.5 million worldwide. It has already passed the $131 million global cume of Halloween Kills and will pass Scream ($141 million) sometime this week. At this rate, it’ll A) eventually crawl past $100 million domestic (which Halloween Ends almost certainly will not) and B) pass the $170 million global cume of Jordan Peele’s Nope to become Hollywood’s biggest live-action original of 2022. Paramount remains on a stunning hot streak.

In more ‘horror is good’ news, Zack Cregger’s Barbarian earned $1.41 million (-36%) in weekend six for a $38.96 million domestic and $40.6 million worldwide cume. It’ll pass $40 million next weekend, a fine achievement for an R-rated, star-free grindhouse original. Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 earned $850,000 in 700 theaters (-186) in an extended theatrical engagement. That’s a $2.3 million 11-day cume, which is incredibly good for a truly fan-driven, grassroots theatrical release. That’ll do Art. That’ll do. Meanwhile, Jessica M. Thompson’s stylish and engaging not-quite-Dracula chiller The Invitation has earned $25 million domestic and $33 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. Between Finn, Cregger, Leone and Thompson, you’ve got four “new” talents ripe for the plucking for any interested studio.

Meanwhile, Universal’s Ticket to Paradise earned another $7.8 million (-21%) this weekend before its domestic debut on October 21. That brings the George Clooney/Julia Roberts rom com to $72.4 million in international grosses. That is within striking distance of The Lost City’s $85 million overseas cume. It looks like the old-school romantic comedy (or just live-action comedy without action or fantasy elements) isn’t quite dead. Columbia and Sony’s delightful Lyle, Lyle Crocodile earned $7.4 million (-35%) in weekend two. That gives the $50 million family-friendly comedy a mediocre $22.7 million domestic and $26.6 million global cume. I wish it were doing better, but the IP wasn’t as big a deal as Peter Rabbit, Paddington or Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The Woman King earned another $3.7 million (-26%) for a $59.7 million domestic and $76.5 million worldwide cume. The $50 million Viola Davis/Lashana Lynch/John Boyega action drama should crawl to $70 million domestic, give or take Oscar season attention. Worst case scenario, this is the kind of film that Sony can make because of the lucrative first pay-tv window deal they signed with NetflixNFLX
. David O. Russell’s Amsterdam crashed hard, earning just $2.89 million (-55%) in weekend two for an $11.95 million domestic and $18.5 million global cume. I liked this one a lot, but audiences no longer automatically show up for star-packed non-franchise films unless almost everything (reviews, high concept, ensemble cast, marquee director, promise of escapism) goes right.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Don’t Worry Darling earned $2.29 million (-35%) over the weekend. The $35 million Olivia Wilde-directed thriller has earned $42.5 million domestically and $78.2 million globally. It’s not a blockbuster or a franchise starter, but the $35 million Olivia Wilde-directed thriller will make money. It’ll likely be more profitable than The Woman King, whose post-debut commercial reception has been entirely positive. Universal’s Bros earned $900,000 (-58%) in weekend three for a poor $10.9 million 17-day total. It’ll, I think, be on PVOD this Friday, so we can look forward to the folks discovering it at home and complaining on social media in viral tweets that nobody told them to see it in theaters. Fun fact: We did.

Top Gun: Maverick grossed $685,000 (-16%) 21st weekend for a bonkers $716 million cume. This will be its 21st consecutive weekend in the top ten, the first film to do so consecutively and overall since Titanic (26 and 26) in 1997. I imagine this will be its last such weekend (at least consecutively), but we’ll see if Terrifier 2 and Bros both stick around. It has sold more tickets in North America than Black Panther ($700 million in 2018/$715 million adjusted for inflation). The over/under inflation-adjusted totals of Jurassic World ($652 million in 2015/$719 million adjusted) and The Avengers ($623 million in 2012/$720 million adjusted) may be a bridge too far unless it returns to theaters and wracks up major Oscar attention.