Halloween Ends
Universal’s horror sequel Halloween Ends debuted with $41.2M in first place, with a simultaneous day-and-date release in cinemas and on Peacock. That’s slightly below pre-release projections, which were around the $45M-$50M range.
Its opening is:
- -16% below 2021 prior installment Halloween Kills ($49.4M), which also debuted day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and on streaming
- -45% below 2018’s Halloween ($76.2M), which debuted with theatrical exclusivity
- -7% below this year’s biggest horror movie, July’s Nope ($44.3M)
- -13% below last year’s biggest horror movie, 2021’s A Quiet Place Part II ($47.5M)
The estimated audience for Ends was 36% Hispanic, versus 33% white. It was also 62% younger than 35.
The word-of-mouth looks poor, with a C+ CinemaScore. Compounded with the film’s streaming availability, it looks like a front-loaded run for the closing chapter of David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy.
Overseas, the film debuted with $17.1M in 77 markets, for a $58.4M global opening. Although its domestic opening was down from its predecessor’s debut, the global opening was actually up +4% over Kills ($55.8M).
Top overseas markets for Ends include:
- Mexico ($2.5M)
- U.K. ($2.4M)
- Germany ($1.6M)
- France ($1.2M)
- Australia ($1.0M)
Smile
For the past two weekends, Paramount’s horror Smile led the box office: first with $22.6M, on the higher end of pre-release projections, then falling only -18% to repeat in first place with $18.5M.
That marked the mildest sophomore weekend drop of any major wide-release film of 2022 so far, whether horror or otherwise.
Now in its third weekend, it falls only -33% to $12.4M and second place.
Like for its second weekend, that was a milder drop than expected, especially given the debut of Halloween Ends in the same genre. Projections were in the slightly lower $10M-$11M range.
Through 17 days, Smile has now earned a $71.1M domestic total. That’s:
- +13% ahead of June’s The Black Phone ($62.4M), despite opening -4% behind ($23.6M)
- +14% ahead of January’s Scream ($62.0M), despite opening -24% behind ($30.0M)
- +33% ahead of 2021’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It ($53.4M), despite opening -6% behind ($24.1M)
Overseas, Smile’s second weekend actually increased +19% in holdover markets. Now in its third frame, it declines only -16%.
The film has now earned $66.4M overseas in 61 markets, for a $137.5M global total. Top overseas market totals include:
- U.K. ($8.1M)
- Germany ($6.6M)
- Mexico ($6.1M)
- France ($4.8M)
- Australia ($3.4M)
- Spain ($3.5M)
- Brazil ($2.5M)
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
Last weekend, Sony Pictures’ family musical Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile had a green lead character but didn’t see much green, opening in second place with $11.5M, below pre-release projections of around $15M.
This weekend, it falls -35% to $7.4M and third place, slightly higher than projections around $6.5M to $7M.
That drop was milder than:
- Last October’s main animated release, 2021’s The Addams Family 2 (-42%, released day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and for online rental)
- 2021’s Clifford the Big Red Dog (-51%, released day-and-date simultaneously in cinemas and streaming on Paramount+)
- July’s DC League of Super Pets (-52%)
However, its drop was slightly steeper than for April’s The Bad Guys (-32%).
Overseas, Lyle has only opened in a few markets so far, earning $3.9M overseas for a $26.4M global total.
Amsterdam
Last weekend, 20th Century Studios’ period crime film Amsterdam opened in third place with $6.5M, below pre-release projections which were in the $8M-$10M range.
This weekend, with poor word-of-mouth, it falls a sharp -55% to $2.8M.
Compared to the sophomore weekend drops in wide release for writer-director David O. Russell’s other films, that’s steeper than:
- 2015’s Joy (-40% on New Year’s weekend, then -56% the weekend after that)
- 2013’s American Hustle (-34%, though technically the initial drop was a mere -2% on Christmas weekend)
- 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook (-30%)
- 2010’s The Fighter (-38%)
Compared to other adult-skewing crime films with large ensemble casts, it’s also steeper than:
- 2021’s House of Gucci (-51%)
- 2013’s Gangster Squad (-49%)
- 2015’s The Big Short (-14% on New Year’s weekend, then -32% after that)
Top Gun: Maverick
Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick declined only -15% to $685K. That’s the #70 largest twenty-first weekend of all time.
After earning “only” the #41 opening weekend of all time ($126.7M), it remained within the top-20 of all time on each respective weekend for months. More recently, though, it’s started to fall back back to earth, with the:
- #29 sixteenth weekend ($3.1M)
- #40 seventeenth weekend ($2.2M)
- #55 eighteenth weekend ($1.6M)
- #59 nineteenth weekend ($1.1M)
- #73 twentieth weekend ($805K)
- Now, the #70 twenty-first weekend ($685K)
One of the few films to ever record a higher twenty-first weekend? 1986’s original Top Gun, which ranks #6 all time on that measure with $2.4M.
Overseas, Maverick stands at $766.9M, for $1.48B globally. That makes it by far the top film of 2022 so far, both globally and domestically. The runner-up globally is Jurassic World: Dominion with $1.00B.
Specialty Box Office: TÁR, Triangle of Sadness, Till, Decision to Leave
TÁR
Last weekend, Focus Features’ TÁR, starring Cate Blanchett, opened in four theaters in New York City and Los Angeles with $158K, for a $39,655 per-theater average. That was the #3 per-theater average of 2022 so far.
It ranked behind only March’s Everything Everywhere All at Once ($50,131, from $501K in 10 theaters) and May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($41,337, from $187.4M in 4,534 theaters).
In its second weekend, TÁR expanded to 36 theaters but dropped -77% to $36K.
TÁR expands to a wider release on October 28.
Triangle of Sadness
Last weekend, Neon’s Triangle of Sadness opened with $214K in 10 theaters, for a $21,460 average. That was the #15 per-theater average of 2022 so far.
This weekend, it expanded slightly to 31 screens, increasing +57% to $336K.
Triangle won the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Till
United Artists Releasing’s and MGM’s historical drama Till opened with $240K in 16 theaters, for a $15,059 average.
That opening per-theater average is below several comparable films real-life African-American figures from American history:
- -26% below 2016’s Hidden Figures ($20,620, from $515,499 in 25 theaters)
- -50% below 2015’s Selma ($30,076, from $571,450 in 19 theaters)
- -69% below 2013’s 12 Years a Slave ($48,617, from $923,715 in 19 theaters)
The estimated audience for Till was 55% female and 47% black (versus 30% white).
[Read Boxoffice PRO’s feature on the film, including quotes from director Chinoye Chukwu, here.]
The film will expand nationwide on October 28.
Decision to Leave
MUBI’s Decision to Leave earned 90,729 in three theaters, for a $30,243 average. That marks the #9 per-theater average of 2022 so far.
The film won Park Chan-wook Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival.
Weekend comparisons
Total box office this weekend came in around $76.7M, which is:
- +30% above last weekend’s total ($58.8M), when Smile led for a second consecutive frame with $18.5M.
- -29% below the equivalent weekend in 2021 ($108.9M), when No Time to Die opened with $55.2M.
- -45% below the equivalent weekend in the last pre-pandemic year 2019 ($141.3M), when Joker led for a second consecutive frame with $55.8M.
YTD comparisons
Year-to-date box office stands around $5.86B. That’s:
- 2.11x this same point in the pandemic recovery year of 2021 ($2.77B), down from 2.19x after last weekend.
- -33.8% behind this same point in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year ($8.85B), down from -33.4% last weekend. The peak was around -29.5%, set in mid-July.
Top distributors
- Universal ($1.32B)
- Paramount ($1.25B)
- Disney ($880.9M)
- Sony Pictures ($797.9M)
- Warner Bros. ($762.8M)
Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates:
| Title | Estimated weekend | % change | Locations | Location change | Average | Total | Weekend | Distributor |
| Halloween Ends | $41,250,000 | 3,901 | $10,574 | $41,250,000 | 1 | Universal | ||
| Smile | $12,400,000 | -33% | 3,612 | -47 | $3,433 | $71,167,899 | 3 | Paramount |
| Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile | $7,400,000 | -35% | 4,350 | $1,701 | $22,757,353 | 2 | Sony Pictures | |
| The Woman King | $3,700,000 | -29% | 2,565 | -777 | $1,442 | $59,746,217 | 5 | Sony Pictures |
| Amsterdam | $2,891,000 | -55% | 3,005 | $962 | $11,959,234 | 2 | 20th Century Studios | |
| Don’t Worry Darling | $2,185,000 | -38% | 2,734 | -590 | $799 | $42,403,454 | 4 | Warner Bros. |
| Barbarian | $1,411,000 | -36% | 1,805 | -355 | $782 | $38,961,777 | 6 | 20th Century Studios |
| Bros | $920,000 | -57% | 2,201 | -1,155 | $418 | $10,835,735 | 3 | Universal |
| Terrifier 2 | $850,000 | 6% | 700 | -186 | $1,214 | $2,295,000 | 2 | Bloody Disgusting |
| Top Gun: Maverick | $685,000 | -15% | 902 | -225 | $759 | $715,755,567 | 21 | Paramount |
| Minions: The Rise of Gru | $418,000 | -21% | 1,215 | 184 | $344 | $368,354,300 | 16 | Universal |
| Bullet Train | $410,000 | -37% | 604 | -314 | $679 | $103,096,865 | 11 | Sony Pictures |
| DC League of Super Pets | $370,000 | -30% | 881 | -430 | $420 | $93,115,890 | 12 | Warner Bros. |
| TÁR | $360,000 | 127% | 36 | 32 | $10,000 | $584,846 | 2 | Focus Features |
| Triangle of Sadness | $336,576 | 57% | 31 | 21 | $10,857 | $657,051 | 2 | Neon |
| See How They Run | $301,000 | -24% | 525 | -250 | $573 | $9,311,420 | 5 | Searchlight Pictures |
| The Invitation | $275,000 | -36% | 545 | -480 | $505 | $25,027,709 | 8 | Sony Pictures |
| Till | $240,940 | 16 | $15,059 | $240,940 | 1 | United Artists | ||
| Pearl | $123,473 | -58% | 263 | -325 | $469 | $9,235,005 | 5 | A24 |
| Moonage Daydream | $111,000 | -35% | 198 | -92 | $561 | $4,039,715 | 5 | Neon |
| Decision to Leave | $90,729 | 3 | $30,243 | $90,729 | 1 | MUBI | ||
| Running The Bases | $38,000 | -30% | 142 | -75 | $268 | $1,445,996 | 5 | UP2U Films |
| Cat Daddies | $11,500 | 1 | $11,500 | $11,500 | 1 | Gray Hat Productions | ||
| Superspreader | $2,300 | -99% | 15 | -83 | $153 | $398,300 | 3 | Iconic Releasing |
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