Box Office Report: One Clown To Rule Them All
Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Weekend Box Office Report: October 11th, 2024 to October 13th, 2024
Cineverse's Terrifier 3 had an even larger than expected break-out performance this weekend with a first place debut of $18.89 million (technically still a revised studio estimate made Monday morning). After just three days, the third installment of the Terrifier horror franchise is already 77.5 percent ahead of the $10.64 million 2022's Terrifier 2 grossed during its entire domestic run (and 72.3 percent ahead of the $10.96 million lifetime domestic gross of Terrifier 2, including last year's re-issue). This weekend's performance for Terrifier 3 is also especially impressive given that the film is unrated, didn't have help from premium screens and has a very small price-tag. Clearly, the Terrifier 3 franchise and the character of Art the Clown have seen their popularity grow significantly in the past two years. Terrifier 3 likely also received an added boost this weekend from the poor performance of (and poor reception to) Joker: Folie à Deux. Terrifier 3 sees the return of director Damien Leone and stars David Howard Thornton and Lauren LaVera.
Another impressive aspect of this weekend's performance for Terrifier 3 is that relatively speaking the film didn't end up being all that front-loaded this weekend. With an opening day performance of $8.20 million (which included an estimated $2.40 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 8PM), Terrifier 3 ended up with an opening weekend to opening day ratio of 2.30 to 1. That is quite solid for a horror sequel with a built-in fanbase and indicates that more and more moviegoers are taking a chance on Terrifier 3 as the film's run continues. On Saturday Terrifier 3 declined 27.8 percent to take in $5.92 million and on Sunday the film decreased by just 19.3 percent to gross an estimated $4.78 million. Terrifier 3 has gone over fairly well with critics and also looks to be going over well with audiences after receiving a solid B rating on CinemaScore. Terrifier 3 will face new competition for horror fans this coming weekend from Paramount's Smile 2, but at the same time, the good reception to Terrifier 3, the continued growing buzz around the film and the Terrifier franchise and the continued lead-up to Halloween should all help out the holding power for Terrifier 3 going forward.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot took in $14.00 million this weekend to hold steady in second place. After declining a so-so 47.2 percent last weekend, The Wild Robot stabilized very nicely this weekend by declining just 25.9 percent. The film's strong critical reviews and strong word of mouth look to really be kicking into gear now and going forward, The Wild Robot is highly likely to continue to hold up well. The 17-day domestic total for The Wild Robot stands at a very promising $84.29 million. Internationally, upon opening in a number of new markets this weekend, The Wild Robot grossed $24.4 million from 55 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $65.0 million and current global haul to $149.3 million. International debuts for The Wild Robot this weekend included $2.8 million in France, $2.2 million in Spain, $1.8 million in Italy and $1.6 million in Brazil. Additional totals through Sunday for The Wild Robot by international market include $11.0 million in Mexico, $9.3 million in Australia, $7.0 million in China, $3.4 million in Germany and $3.0 million in South Korea. The Wild Robot opens in the United Kingdom this coming Friday (October 18).
Due in part to the poor second weekend hold of fellow Warner Bros. release Joker: Folie à Deux (more on that in a bit), Warner Bros.'s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was able to hold steady in third place this weekend with $7.32 million. That represented a decline of just 27.8 percent from last weekend. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has grossed an impressive $275.89 million through 38 days of domestic release and this weekend's strong hold increases the film's chances of eventually reaching the $300 million domestic mark. Internationally, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice grossed $5.1 million this weekend from 77 international markets. Respective totals for the film stand at $145.2 million internationally and at $421.1 million globally. Totals through Sunday for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice by international market include $31.5 million in the United Kingdom, $19.1 million in Mexico, $14.2 million in France, $9.6 million in Australia, $8.9 million in Spain, $6.7 million in Germany, $5.8 million in Italy, $4.0 million in Brazil and $3.2 million in Poland.
After an already disappointing start last weekend, Warner Bros.'s Joker: Folie à Deux had a simply terrible second weekend hold by falling 81.4 percent to land in fourth place with $7.00 million. The second weekend hold of Joker: Folie à Deux was poorer than those of 2022's Morbius (which declined 73.8 percent in its second weekend to gross $10.20 million) and last year's The Marvels (which fell by 78.1 percent in its second weekend to gross $10.12 million). Making this weekend's hold even worse for Joker: Folie à Deux is that the film held onto its IMAX screens and showtimes this weekend (the film grossed an estimated $0.80 million from domestic IMAX screens this weekend, for a domestic IMAX total of $6.2 million). The largely negative reception to Joker: Folie à Deux among both critics and audiences has taken a clear toll on the film at the box office, especially since so many fans of 2019's Joker where on the fence about Joker: Folie à Deux to begin with. The expensive Joker: Folie à Deux has grossed just $51.56 million through ten days of domestic release and is all but guaranteed to continue to fall off extremely quickly going forward.
Although Joker: Folie à Deux continues to perform stronger internationally, the film nonetheless experienced significant slowing internationally as well this weekend after grossing $21.9 million from 77 international markets. This weekend's international performance for Joker: Folie à Deux included a debut of $2.4 million in Japan. Respective totals for Joker: Folie à Deux stand at $113.4 million internationally and at $165.0 million globally. Additional totals through Sunday for Joker: Folie à Deux by international market include $11.6 million in the United Kingdom, $8.0 million in Germany, $7.6 million in Italy, $7.4 million in France, $7.3 million in Mexico, $6.5 million in Brazil, $4.8 million in Spain, $4.6 million in South Korea and $4.4 million in Australia. Joker: Folie à Deux grossed an estimated $1.7 million from international IMAX screens this weekend, which brings the film's international IMAX total to $7.3 million and global IMAX total to $13.5 million. Joker: Folie à Deux will open in China this coming Wednesday (October 16).
Meanwhile, a number of new wide releases not named Terrifier 3 all failed to light the box office on fire this weekend, though to be fair, none of them had been expected to do so heading into the weekend.
Focus' Piece By Piece (a Morgan Neville directed film about the life of Pharrell Williams, through the use of LEGO animation) was the strongest of the bunch with a fifth place start of $3.85 million (from 1,865 locations). Sony's Saturday Night (a Jason Reitman directed film about the debut of Saturday Night Live in 1975), which many had expected to be the strongest of the five films in question, expanded to wide release with a modest $3.40 million (from 2,309 locations) to place in seventh (behind the $3.76 million fourth weekend take of Paramount's Transformers One).
Toho International's release of My Hero Academia: You're Next placed in eighth with a so-so $3.01 million (from 1,845 locations), which was a lackluster 51.9 percent below the $6.26 million start of My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission back in October of 2021. Disney's latest re-issue of the 1993 classic The Nightmare Before Christmas followed in ninth place with $2.42 million, which was respectable given the lack of marketing for this re-issue. And despite the buzz around the film, Briarcliff's release of The Apprentice grossed just $1.61 million (from 1,740 locations) to place in tenth, as audiences (whether anti-Trump or pro-Trump) just weren't interested in the Ali Abbasi directed film about Trump in the 1970s and 1980s.
CinemaScore ratings for this weekend's lower profile new releases included a strong A rating for Piece By Piece, a healthy A- rating for My Hero Academia: You're Next, a good B+ rating for Saturday Night and a respectable B- rating for The Apprentice.
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