Weekend Wrap-Up: Halloween Repeats on Top, New Releases are Barely Seen
October 30, 2018
The month of October ends on a soft note with only one of the new releases we talked about in our prediction reached the top ten over the weekend. And even that film, Hunter Killer, didn’t quite reach our low expectations. Fortunately, Halloween came within a rounding error of predictions with $31.42 million and the overall box office wasn’t too bad at $104 million. Granted, this is 37% lower than last weekend, but this is to be expected for Halloween weekend. More importantly, the overall box office was 37% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2018 has pulled in $9.55 billion, putting it ahead of 2017’s running tally of $8.45 billion. At first glance, this looks like 2018 has a $1 billion lead, but it was actually $999 million, according to our numbers. It will certainly get there by the end of business on Monday. This is a fantastic result, but a short-lived one, as November and December won’t be able to maintain this lead.
Halloween remained in first place with $31.42 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $126.08 million. This is already the best film in the franchise. In fact, its domestic total is higher than any other film’s worldwide total. They are obviously already working on a sequel.
A Star is Born was well back with $14.04 million for a total of $148.61 million after four weeks of release. It is already a financial success and a critical success. Now it just needs to wait to see if it will be an Awards Season player as well.
Venom remained in third place with $10.65 million over the weekend for a total of $187.13 million after four weeks of release. If the film gets a boost from Halloween, then it could hit $200 million domestically by this time next week. It will likely have to wait a few more days to get to that milestone.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween held firm in fourth place with $7.28 million over the weekend for a total of $38.13 million after three weeks of release. It only cost $35 million to make, so it is on pace to break even early in its home market run.
Hunter Killer was the only new entry in the top five and it barely got there with $6.65 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews are not going to help its legs and even though it did better with CinemaScore earning an A minus, theater owners are not going to be interested in keeping this around as the holiday blockbusters hit theaters.
Johnny English Strikes Again did a little better than expected with $1.64 million in just 544 theaters. Granted, its reviews do suggest a quick exit from theaters, but its internal multiplier was 3.17, which is fantastic for this day and age. I don’t think it will expand at the box office, but it could do better on the home market, especially on places like Netflix.
Indivisible was right behind with $1.50 million in 830 theaters, meaning it missed the Mendoza Line. It reviews rose to 69% positive making it the best new release on this week’s list. However, that won’t help it, as theater owners will be looking to dump it as soon as they are contractually able to.
There were no true sophomore films at this week’s box office, but The Hate U Give did have its second weekend of wide release. It was down just 33% to $5.10 million over the weekend for a total of $18.30 million, including its two weeks of limited release. We originally predicted the film would earn $25 million domestically and it looks like it will have no trouble getting passed that mark.
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Venom, Hunter Killer, Halloween, A Star is Born, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, The Hate U Give, Johnny English Strikes Again, Indivisible, Halloween