Saturday Update: Sony’s Venom held its ground on Friday, retaking first place after a brief concession on Thursday. The hit antihero comic pic added $9.785 million yesterday, bringing its eight-day domestic haul to $116.9 million. Projections for the weekend have swayed back in its favor with what is expected to be a sophomore frame around $32 million or slightly higher, withstanding its loss of IMAX screens in generally healthy fashion.
Its primary competition, A Star Is Born posted another excellent hold — easing just 46 percent from opening day last week to $8.5 million on Friday. The film continues its impressive run with an updated tally of $74.66 million through eight days. Current weekend projections now stand at $29.5 million as the hit remake remains in contention with Venom for the top spot but will likely take a few more days before it returns there.
First Man opened to $5.86 million on Friday, slightly below forecasts but generally in line with expectations. The strongly reviewed award season candidate was on par with the first days of Bridge of Spies ($5.4 million) and Argo ($5.9 million). Universal expects around $16.8 million for the weekend, while we’re a bit more optimistic about weekend holds.
Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween earned a healthy $4.85 million opening day, putting it on course for a debut in the mid-to-high teen millions (Sony expects $15.75 million). By comparison, the first Goosebumps pic earned $7.35 million on its first day.
Meanwhile, Bad Times at the El Royale earned $2.825 million to start its run yesterday, pacing for a weekend north of $7 million (Fox projects $7.8 million as of this morning). Opening day was comparable to mother!‘s $3.1 million start last fall.
Early weekend estimates are below with updated studio estimates to follow on Sunday.
Early Weekend Estimates (Domestic)
FRI, OCT. 12 – SUN, OCT. 14
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Venom | $32,000,000 | -60% | 4,250 | 0 | $7,529 | $139,102,151 | 2 | Sony / Columbia |
| 2 | A Star is Born | $29,500,000 | -31% | 3,708 | 22 | $7,956 | $95,660,360 | 2 | Warner Bros. |
| 3 | First Man | $17,000,000 | — | 3,640 | — | $4,670 | $17,000,000 | 1 | Universal |
| 4 | Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween | $16,000,000 | — | 3,521 | — | $4,544 | $16,000,000 | 1 | Sony |
| 5 | Smallfoot | $9,200,000 | -36% | 3,606 | -525 | $2,551 | $57,508,221 | 3 | Warner Bros. |
| 6 | Night School | $7,700,000 | -38% | 2,780 | -239 | $2,770 | $59,508,950 | 3 | Universal |
| 7 | Bad Times At The El Royale | $7,400,000 | — | 2,808 | — | $2,635 | $7,400,000 | 1 | 20th Century Fox |
| 8 | The House With A Clock In Its Walls | $3,900,000 | -47% | 2,791 | -672 | $1,397 | $62,175,500 | 4 | Universal Pictures |
| 9 | A Simple Favor | $1,300,000 | -62% | 1,452 | -956 | $895 | $51,957,508 | 5 | Lionsgate |
| 10 | The Nun | $1,300,000 | -52% | 1,174 | -1090 | $1,107 | $115,855,046 | 6 | Warner Bros. |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Hate U Give | $1,550,000 | 203% | 248 | 212 | $6,250 | $2,262,314 | 2 | 20th Century Fox |
| 2 | Crazy Rich Asians | $1,100,000 | -49% | 738 | -728 | $1,491 | $171,389,368 | 9 | Warner Bros. |
| 3 | The Old Man & The Gun | $1,000,000 | 148% | 228 | 179 | $4,386 | $1,784,924 | 3 | Fox Searchlight |
| 4 | Incredibles 2 | $280,000 | 0% | 194 | -50 | $1,443 | $607,542,593 | 18 | Disney |
| 5 | The Sisters Brothers | $260,000 | 28% | 129 | 75 | $2,016 | $1,072,484 | 4 | Annapurna Pictures |
| 6 | The Predator | $195,000 | -79% | 376 | -1267 | $519 | $50,684,921 | 5 | Fox |
| 7 | Disney’s Christopher Robin | $180,000 | -59% | 465 | -1173 | $387 | $98,631,444 | 11 | Disney |
| 8 | Mission: Impossible – Fallout | $165,000 | -49% | 221 | -140 | $747 | $220,095,330 | 12 | Paramount |
| 9 | Ant-Man and the Wasp | $90,000 | -33% | 132 | -46 | $682 | $216,519,940 | 15 | Disney |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jane and Emma | $150,000 | — | 21 | — | $7,143 | $150,000 | 1 | Excel Entertainment / Purdie Distribution |
| 2 | Bigger | $30,000 | — | 61 | — | $492 | $30,000 | 1 | Freestyle Releasing |
| 3 | God Bless the Broken Road | $8,700 | -61% | 53 | 0 | $164 | $2,837,347 | 6 | Freestyle Releasing |
| 4 | A.X.L. | $5,161 | -77% | 25 | -30 | $206 | $5,161 | 8 | Global Road Entertainment |
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Friday Report: Universal’s First Man earned a solid $1.1 million from last night’s first shows beginning at 7pm in 2,850 locations. That comes in 28 percent ahead of Deepwater Horizon ($860K), 18 percent behind Sully ($1.35 million), and 120 percent ahead of Bridge of Spies ($500K). As a film likely to generate healthy walk-up business from an older audience, this start bodes well for an opening weekend on target with expectations in the high teen millions to low $20 million range.
Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween brought in $750K for Sony last night, 11 percent behind The House With A Clock In Its Walls ($840K) and 25 percent ahead of the first Goosebumps ($600K). As a sequel with shows beginning at 5pm, it could be more front-loaded than either of those comps, but this is a healthy start nonetheless.
Fox reports that Bad Times at the El Royale took in $575K last night. That figure comes in identical to White Boy Rick ($575K), 18 percent behind mother! ($700K), and 33 percent behind Crimson Peak ($860K).
Among holdovers, A Star Is Born added $4.515 million for another excellent drop of just 2 percent from Wednesday. With $66.16 million in the domestic bank thus far, the word-of-mouth phenom is building a strong case for a run toward the first place crown this weekend against Venom.
Follow us for continued updates.
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