A big big second week falloff isn’t preventing “Halloween” from dominating the box office on Trick or Treating weekend. A 70% drop Friday to Friday and Deadline.com is still figuring it’ll hit $33 million by midnight Sunday.
A bit generous. I figure $30 is within reach and that Friday was telling us something. Word has gotten around, and repeat business for a repetitious thriller with few frights isn’t a factor.
The only wide opening offering any competition might have been “Hunter Killer,” a submarine thriller starring Gerard Butler as a commander with orders to save the Russian president. The fellow giving those orders probably has orange hair.
That’s not drawing any audience, maybe $6-7 million. Butler’s a draw in the right vehicle, but those are few and far between, and are mostly ensemble thrillers these days.
“A Star is Born” is managing another $13-14, “Venom” adds another $10 (It’s over $300 million, worldwide), “First Man” and “Hate U Give” are sticking around, waiting for those first award’s season honors to give them a boost. “First Man” may hit $50, all in, if that acclaim doesn’t lengthen its release. “Hate” won’t clear $30 without help.
Universal didn’t park “Johnny English Strikes Again” on a lot of screens. Rowan Atkinson is a much bigger deal in the REST of the former British Empire, and the rest of the world. It’s already over $100 million abroad, but on 652 screens here, it did not even crack the top 12 — 13th at about $1.5 million.
That’s less than the superior (still a bit of a slog) “Indivisible,” a faith-based drama with an Iraq War backdrop.
And A24’s “Mid90s” cracked the top ten in its first week of wide (ish) release.
