Coming off the usual weak September, October showed a modest uplift. A transition month that mainly offered tonally dark movies in the build-up to Halloween, the lack of variety in globally released movies, and a poor Golden Week in China prevented more significant growth at the global box office.
The global box office of $2.1 billion in October ranked 8th among the past 12 months. The gap is nearly a third (-32%) compared to the average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019), ranking it 9th on this metric among the past 12 months.
After 10 months, the global box office is estimated to have reached $25.4 billion in 2024. The running year is now -12% below the same period in 2023 and +18% above the one in 2022. The gap to the three-year benchmark is at -22%.
On this month’s Global Box Office Tracker (GBOT, above), the stacked bar graph on the left shows total box office levels split out by the three key global markets: Domestic, China and International (excluding China). The pie chart indicates the current deficit compared to the average of the three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019) and where those losses are currently coming from. The bar graph on the bottom right displays the percentage drops globally.
In October a few global new releases and one main holdover title determined the box office.
The highest-grossing global release in October was the third entry in Sony’s successful VENOM franchise. Just one week after its release, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE generated approximately $230 million within the month. That is already higher than the lifetime results of MORBIUS ($167m) and MADAME WEB ($101m).
It will very likely finish above BLACK ADAM ($393m), AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM ($439m) and TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS ($442m) but stay slightly below VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE ($501m) and a bit more below the first installment from 2018, which grossed $856 million.
The second highest grossing movie in October was another sequel to a superhero villain, Warner Bros’ JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX, with approximately $203 million in the month. That is already more than the lifetime of THE SUICIDE SQUAD ($169m) from 2021 and FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA ($174m) earlier this year. JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX is ending in the ballpark of BIRDS OF PREY ($206m) and THE MARVELS ($206m). As with that latter title, this is a steep drop from the $1 billion+ heights of the initial installments of the character, as JOKER made $1.08 billion and CAPTAIN MARVEL $1.13 billion in 2019.
As the main animated movie of the month, Dreamworks’ THE WILD ROBOT added approximately $191 million in October for a $248 million cume. That is already higher than prior fall season animated releases like ABOMINABLE ($190m), TROLLS BAND TOGETHER ($209m) and SMALLFOOT ($218m). It also overtook the lifetime of THE BAD GUYS ($252m) and WISH ($255m) at the beginning of November. Given the current performance, THE WILD ROBOT will also outgross MIGRATION ($300m) and end around the lifetime total of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ($320m), a bit below INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE ($376m).
Horror sequel SMILE 2 from Paramount generated approximately $96 million in October. That is above the lifetime of recent genre entries like SPEAK NO EVIL ($76m) and TRAP ($83m). It will very likely end around the lifetimes of 2022’s SCREAM ($138m) and last year’s EXORCIST: BELIEVER ($137m), a bit below EVIL DEAD RISE ($147m) and THE BLACK PHONE ($161m), and further away from the $217 million breakout success of the first SMILE two years ago.
The surprise breakout of this October was the independent horror slasher sequel TERRIFIER 3 with an incredible $66 million on a reported $2 million production budget. This is already four times the result of TERRIFIER 2 ($16m). It looks like it will finish in the ballpark of SAW X ($113m) and HALLOWEEN ENDS ($104m), a bit below LONGLEGS ($121m).
Neck-and-neck with Art the Clown, holdover BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, from Warner Bros, added approximately $70 million in October for a cume of $445 million. It’s currently the 4th highest-grossing Domestic release so far this year ($290m) and ranks #7 globally.
It outgrossed the recent Tim Burton releases of DUMBO ($353m), ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS ($300m), MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN ($297m) and DARK SHADOWS ($246m). It’s nearing the end of its run after two months in release and will end a bit below IT: CHAPTER 2 ($473m), which reigned the same release window in 2019.