‘Ticket To Paradise’ Nabs $16 Million As Terrifier 2’ Jumps 84%

Universal’s Ticket to Paradise finally opened in North America with a refreshingly robust $16.3 million weekend. The last of Universal’s four live-action comedies this year, after Marry Me, Easter Sunday and Bros, showed that the sub-genre (even without music, action or fantasy) isn’t dead yet. Ol Parker’s $60 million rom-com, about two bitterly divorced parents (George Clooney and Julia Roberts) who team up to sabotage their daughter’s wedding, should be leggy. Oscar season expansions aside, there’s nothing for adults who don’t like superheroes or horror films until Thanksgiving weekend. It has already earned $80 million overseas, on par with The Lost City’s $85 million lifetime cume, following a month of slow international rollout. This gives the indifferently reviewed (I liked it, and your parents will too) studio programmer a $96 million global cume.

It’s not a blockbuster, as it’s mostly winding down overseas and may end up with over/under $145 million global. But that will still be 2.45x its budget, with plenty more to come from PVOD rentals courtesy of older audiences either not caring about theaters or not wanting to pay for a babysitter. It may be a grim example of the modern theatrical business that a Julia Roberts/George Clooney romantic comedy barely scraping by is considered a sign of hope, but that’s where we are in the streaming era. Besides, if Hollywood were better at making new stars, we wouldn’t have to rely on the Tom Hanks, Tom Cruises and Julia Roberts of the world 20 years past their relative prime. That’s what Top Gun: Maverick, which finally fell out of the top ten on weekend 22, is subtextually about.

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Smile remains the scary movie of the scary season, earning $8.35 million (-34%) while adding 142 theaters in weekend four. With $84.5 million domestic, it has passed Scream ($81 million) and will soon pass Halloween Kills ($92 million) next weekend as it races past the $100 million milestone. Heck, at the rate it’s going, it might pass Bullet Train ($103 million) *and* Jordan Peele’s Nope ($123 million) to become the biggest R-rated domestic earner of the Covid era. Oh, and it has earned $150 million worldwide, meaning it’ll soon pass Nope ($171 million) as this year’s biggest live-action Hollywood original. Hell, it may even pass $200 million worldwide before leaving theaters. Not bad for a $17 million, R-rated original initially intended for Paramount+. It will be more valuable to Paramount+ via its theatrical success.

Universal and Blumhouse’s Halloween Ends took a massive 80% drop in weekend two, grossing just $8 million for a $54.177 million ten-day total. The poor review, divisive word-of-mouth and concurrent Peacock availability killed this one quick. Again, Peacock didn’t help, but it’s not like either Halloween Kills ($92 million from a $49 million debut) or the well-received and Peacock-free Halloween ($159 million/$77 million) were remotely leggy. I’m also old enough to remember when the biggest Halloween movies earned $47 million (Halloween in 1978), $55 million (Halloween: H20 in 1998) and $58 million (Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake in 2007) in total. Come what may, the $33 million slasher threequel has earned $82 million worldwide and should crack $110 million global before exiting theaters. The new Halloween trilogy should end with over/under $500 million worldwide on a combined $63 million budget.

Sony’s Lyle Lyle Crocodile earned $4.2 million (-43%) in weekend three for a disappointing $28.7 million 17-day cume. Sony’s The Woman King earned $1.93 million (-48%) for a $62.9 million domestic and $83 million worldwide cume. The $50 million Viola Davis-led action drama may not be a theatrical hit. Still, it’s doing great domestically and is the sort of film Sony can justify making for theaters thanks to the first-window pay-tv deal they signed with NetflixNFLX
. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Don’t Worry Darling has earned $44 million domestically and $80 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. 20th Century Studios’ all-star (and $80 million) Amsterdam has grossed just $14 million domestically and $21 million worldwide. 20th Century Studios’ $4 million, R-rated original Barbarian will cross $40 million domestic this weekend, even while Smile stole much of its buzz.

Bloody Disgusting’s Terrifier 2 got oodles of mainstream media attention this week, as reports of audiences fainting or vomiting led to petitions to ban the film. Those petitions are no more serious than the morons advocating for a remake of Halloween Ends or the idiots who tried to raise $200 million to remake The Last Jedi. It’s nice to see that an old-school video nasty-type flick can still get the torches and pitchforks in this fragmented media culture. Art the Clown’s 138-minute epic slasher sequel earned $1.895 million (+85%) in weekend three for a $5.256 million domestic cume. Even accounting for the notion of demographically specific event movies (think RRR, Christmas with the Chosen, BTS: Permission to Dance, etc.), this is entirely unexpected. Art the Clown’s Terrifier 2 is turning into The Greatest Showman of unrated slasher epics.

In Oscar rollout news, Martin McDonagh’s terrific The Banshees of Inisherin debuted in four theaters yesterday, earning $181,000 in its opening weekend. That will give Searchlight’s dark Brendan Gleeson/Colin Farrell/Kerry Condon/Barry Keoghan dramedy a promising $45,250 per-theater average. The film opened with $1.62 million in the United Kingdom. United Artists’ Till expanded to 104 theaters in advance of its nationwide rollout next weekend. The acclaimed true-life drama, for which Danielle Deadwyler is earning serious Oscar buzz, earned $376,000 in weekend two (+55%) for a $3,617 per-theater average and $666,500 ten-day cume. Cate Blanchett’s TÁR will also go wide next weekend. It expanded to 141 theaters and made $470,000 (+42%) for a $3,333 per-theater average and $1.175 million 17-day cume. We’ll see how many of this year’s critically acclaimed Oscar contenders can outgross Terrifier 2 ($5.3 million and rising rather than falling).