Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Halloween” is dominating the pre-Halloween box office with an impressive $30.5 million at 3,990 North American sites.
Universal’s R-rated slasher movie — a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s original 1978 movie with Curtis’ Laurie Strode again facing off against serial killer Michael Myers — crossed the $100 million mark on Friday, its eighth day of domestic release. It’s due to decline 61% from its stunning $76.2 million opening weekend.
“Halloween” is maintaining the momentum of a record-setting October, having already topped the $757 million mark from four years ago. The overall 2018 box office was up 10.4% to $9.58 billion as of Oct. 21, according to comScore.
“Audiences have clearly made ‘Halloween’ a box office treat as the latest film in the iconic horror franchise continues to kill the competition at the multiplex while taking full advantage of what is typically a slow frame with a second session that is perfectly timed for Laurie Strode and Michael Myers to become an essential part of many moviegoers’ scary holiday weekend festivities,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore.
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The $30.5 million take for “Halloween” is the sixth-best mark for the pre-Halloween weekend, which is typically one of the slowest of the year. The other five films were all opener weekends, led by “Puss in Boots” with $34 million, followed by “Saw III,” “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa,” “Saw IV” and “Saw II.”
Rival studios opted to avoid opening wide release titles, other than Lionsgate’s launch of action-thriller “Hunter Killer,” which was heading for a modest fourth place with $7.2 million at 2,720 locations. “Hunter Killer,” starring Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, and Common, has been forecast to collect between $5 million and $9 million this weekend.
Two other launches failed to generate much interest as Pure Flix’s opening of faith-based war drama “Indivisible” was heading for 13th place with around $1.6 million at 844 venues. Universal’s spy spoof “Johnny English Strikes Again” was projected to finish 14th with $1.5 million at 544 screens.
Lady Gaga’s “A Star Is Born” remained a potent player at multiplexes in second place with an estimated $14.2 million at 3,904 venues for a 24-day total of nearly $149 million for Warner Bros. The awards contender declined only 27% from its third weekend.
Tom Hardy’s “Venom” followed in third with $10.2 million at 3,517 sites in its fourth weekend. The anti-superhero vehicle should wind up the weekend with about $187 million in 24 days domestically for Sony.