BOX OFFICE: A Terrible Terror Tale Takes Over — “Five Nights at Freddy’s” doubles the Halloween Record

Almost all the reviews of the video game adaptation “Five Nights at Freddy’s” have been bad. Awful. Or in one case, calling it just the worst.

But Universal/Blumhouse had a killer premise, good trailers and when I left the theater after seeing it, the lobby was jammed, and not just with “Swifties” either.

It’s a PG-13 kiddie (ish) horror show, and they’re lining up to see it. Too young to care about reviews.

Apparenty how many “Youtubers” are in the bit player cast is what matters more, parents of tweens I know tell me. There are seven in this, bless their hearts. Not “playing” anything that anybody other than their online fans would notice.

Deadline.com is calling this the Halloween weekend record as it rolls up some $78 million. It had a big Thursday night ($10 million+) and a huge Friday.

Word of mouth at how bad it is, how poorly scripted, directed and acted (Josh Hutcherson’s quote will soar, no matter what, thanks to this hit), didn’t stem the tide. If you have tweens or grand-tweens, they were all about “Freddy’s,” and many went twice, if their promises are to be believed.

I ducked into the “Eras Tour” Taylor Swift doc for about half an hour while waiting for “Freelance” to start. Epic production, not the most flattering display of her singing and (quite limited) “movement” talents. It’s still making buckets of cash and has turn Tay Tay into a billionaire, according to the financial mags that aren’t owned by Russians. It’s falling off steeply, but the film’s pulling in another $14 million and change this weekend, and will have cleared the $150 million mark by midday Monday. I’ll bet she’s glad she rolled this out before Beyonce’s similar venture “coming soon.”

“Killers of the Flower Moon” is doing very well for a draggy three and a half hour long epic about poisoning and shooting Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma — another $9 million this weekend. The fall-off this weekend was a LOT steeper than expected (it was predicted to pull in $12+). It might clear the $50 million mark by next Friday.

“After Death,” from Angel Studios, is a doc that managed some $5 million comforting the faithful about the hereafter.

“Exorcist: Believer” enjoys one last weekend in the top five at $3.1 million

John Cena’s bloody “Freelance” action comedy underwhelmed in the worst way. He’s not a huge draw, nor is Allison Brie or anybody else in the cast (Christian Slater is the biggest supporting name, with Juan Pablo Raba and Marton Csokas also on board. It’s pretty bad, violent and not the least bit serious and only rarely funny.

It didn’t crack the top 5. It cleared $2, just behind the $2.15 million another weekend’s take of the “Paw Patrol” sequel.

Here’s the final Sunday afternoon “Estimate” from @BoxOfficePro.

About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine
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