AP – Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend.
Smile 2, in its first weekend, and Terrifier 3 in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d’Or winner Anora got the best per-theatre average in over a year.
Smile 2 was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected USD23 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror Smile, his debut.
Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theatres in the fall of 2022. Smile became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some USD217 million against a USD17 million budget.
The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first’s USD22 million.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot in its fourth weekend with USD10.1 million, bumping it past USD100 million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theatres, particularly ones as well reviewed as The Wild Robot, and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into Terrifier 3, which is not rated, instead.
Either way, Damien Leone’s demon clown movie, which cost only USD2 million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated USD9.3 million, bringing its total to USD36.2 million.
“Rumours like that are PR gold,” said senior media analyst for Comscore Paul Dergarabedian. “There’s no better indication that that movie is red hot right now.”
The number one openings for Smile 2 this weekend and Terrifier 3 last were only possible because of the failure of Joker: Folie à Deux. That big budget sequel continued its death march in its third weekend, falling another 69 per cent to earn USD2.2 million, bringing its domestic total to USD56.4 million.
Warner Bros has a better performer in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which placed fourth in its seventh weekend with an additional USD5 million, bringing its domestic total to USD284 million. Star Michael Keaton also had another film open this weekend – the father-daughter dramedy Goodrich which stumbled in with only USD600,000 from 1,055 locations.
Rounding out the top five was the romantic tearjerker We Live In Time, which expanded to 985 theatres following last weekend’s debut on five screens. The A24 release starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh earned USD4.2 million over the weekend. Audiences were 85 per cent under 35 and 70 per cent female, according to exit polls. The well-reviewed film will expand further next weekend.
One of the other brightest spots of the weekend was Sean Baker’s Anora, which opened in six locations in New York and Los Angeles and earned an estimated USD630,000. That’s a USD105,000 per theatre average, the best since Asteroid City’s USD142,000 average last summer. The Neon release, a sensation at Cannes and a likely Oscar contender, stars Mikey Madison as a New York worker who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch.
After several weeks of would-be awards contenders and buzzy films (Piece by Piece, Saturday Night, The Apprentice among them) fizzling with audiences, Anora’s success is a promising sign that moviegoers will still seek out arty, adult fare.
“For moviegoers, there’s a lot on offer with something in every type of movie in every category,” Dergarabedian said. “I think we’re going to have a really strong home stretch with a great combination of movies big and small.”
The Walt Disney Co also made a splash with several re-releases. The Nightmare Before Christmas got a place in the top 10 with USD1.1 million, while Hocus Pocus made USD841,000. – Lindsey Bahr
