As the calendar turns to October, it is not a surprise that a horror movie has jumped out to #1 on the box office charts. Paramount’s creepy SMILE won the weekend easily with $22M in its opening frame. SMILE tells the story of a therapist who is haunted after witnessing a bizarre and traumatic event involving a patient.
With strong scores on Rotten Tomatoes by both critics (74%) and audiences (82%), this horror flick may rival the success of THE BLACK PHONE, last summer’s supernatural surprise which premiered on June 24th to a $23.6M opening weekend and $90M total run in theatres. THE BLACK PHONE was also well-received when released, with 82% critics score and 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Because HALLOWEEN ENDS opens in two weeks, SMILE will need to stay strong at the box office next week, dipping down by no more than 50% from its debut weekend. However, $22M in ticket sales on its opening weekend is already more than the $17M production budget for the film, so is already assured to be a profitable endeavor for its studio Paramount.
Last week’s box office winner DON’T WORRY DARLING finished with $7.3M, taking second place and dropping 62% from its opening weekend. After ten days, the movie seems on a trajectory to earn approximately $50M, right on track with pre-release estimates. The swirl of press attention around its director and stars does not appear to have impacted its final tally.
THE WOMAN KING took third place with a gross of $7M, down only 35% from last weekend’s sales. The positive word of mouth about the film and its continued success at the box office should keep THE WOMAN KING playing throughout October on thousands of screens, allowing it to reach its maximum earnings potential.
Universal’s BROS landed fourth, with only $4.8M in its opening weekend. This was a disappointing result for the much-anticipated gay romantic comedy, which many thought would find an audience with the under-served LGBTQ community. Both critics and moviegoers like the picture, giving 91% and 90% scores on Rotten Tomatoes respectively.
Despite these positive reviews, it is hard to imagine how it can recover from a meager box office debut. Even though it had a modest production budget of $22M, Universal will struggle to reach profitability on this one. Fifth place went to the current year re-issue of James Cameron’s original AVATAR, which grossed $4.7M and dropped 55% from last weekend.
On our indie watch, the sixth place went to the Indian film PONNIYIN SELVAN: I, which grossed $4.1M in a limited run at 500 theatres. This adds up to a very solid per-location average of $8,260. It is the second time in recent weeks that an Indian film has placed among the top six at the North American box office, following the success of BRAHMASTRA: PART ONE which placed second when it opened on September 9th, earning $4.5M on 810 locations.
Unfortunately, that film dropped by a steep 75% in its second week and had grossed only $7.6M after three full weeks in theatres. We see a similar fate ahead for PONNIYIN SELVAN: I, since fans of quality Indian films show their enthusiasm at the outset but are not numerous enough to sustain results past opening weekend.