Box Office Discussion: Happy "Halloween"

 Halloween Kills with more moviegoers than expected, while The Last Duel died in battle.

At the top of the box office chart, at least, we see clear signs that moviegoing is beginning to return closer to normal.  The latest evidence is the performance of Halloween Kills, the latest entry in the long-running horror franchise.  Thanks to the pandemic, it arrives a year after its original release date, and a full three years after the last entry, Halloween in 2018.  That delay between entries is usually ill-advised with horror series, but while Kills was off considerably from Halloween'18's smashing $76.2 million opening, Kills comes in with a better-than-expected $49.4 million.  Horror movies tend to fall off fast, but with two more weekends before the titular holiday, and with no other hard horror titles out this weekend, Kills might end up holding up better than expected.  Short of a massive collapse, it should become the 10th film of 2021 to hit the $100 million mark.

Unlike the various victims of Michael Meyers, James Bond simply has No Time To Die, as the latest 007 adventure holds up decently with $23.8 million.  Its ten-day total stands at $99 million, meaning it had to wait until Monday to become the 9th $100 million grosser of the year.  Die looks to be heading toward $150 million total.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage had another expected drop, as it falls to $16.5 million, for a total of $168.1 million.  It still seems to be on a $200 million trajectory, but it has fallen behind the pace of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, so it is unlikely to top its fellow Marvel movie.

The Addams Family 2 continues to do all right as the only major family movie out right now, taking in $7.1 million for a total of $42.1 million.  It looks to be heading north of $50 million, and has an outside chance of catching The Boss Baby: Family Business to become the highest-grossing fully animated film of the year so far.  However, it is facing direct competition this weekend.

Six years ago, Ridley Scott directed Matt Damon in October release The Martian, one of the year's biggest smashes.  This time around, Scott and Damon head into the past with The Last Duel, which will go down as one of the year's biggest bombs.  The medieval adventure, which also starred Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, and Ben Affleck, could only muster up $4.8 million.  Given that the top four movies this weekend all involve characters who have been around for literally decades, this isn't great news for fans of films that aren't part of IP franchises.  That said, for a film that mostly appeals to older audiences, it might have some better-than-expected legs, like Damon's summer drama Stillwater exhibited.  Then again, Stillwater has grossed less than $15 million, so...yeah.

The aforementioned Shang-Chi continues to do decent business, taking in $3.3 million for a total of $217.9 million.  It should have at least a month, if not longer, to reign as the year's highest-grossing film.

While looking at the top of the box office chart, its easy to get the impression that movie theaters are back, the bottom of the Top 10 tells a different story.  It's been two months since all ten films in the Top 10 grossed at least a million dollars.  Since then, we've both seen fairly small weekend grosses from the bottom rung films, as well as films that normally would be on the outside managing to break into the top tier for a week or two, which can largely be attributed to the lack of wide-release films (only 10 total since Shang-Chi's Labor Day weekend debut), and how the smaller titles tended to fall off the chart very fast (Good luck and Godspeed, Malignant, Cry Macho, Cop Shop, Dear Evan Hanson, and The Many Saints of Newark).  To wit, debuting at #7 despite making only $0.7 million is the Indian rom-com Honsla Rakh, the first of two movies from the subcontinent debuting in the Top 10 this weekend.

Continuing to hang out at #8 is Free Guy, the one hit movie this year not (officially) based on a prior IP.  It is up to $120.8 million.  In ninth is Icelandic horror film Lamb, which has a ten-day gross of $2 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 is the week's other Indian rom-com, Most Eligible Bachelor, which opened to $0.5 million.

 Blockbuster October roles on this weekend with the release of the much-anticipated Dune, the latest remake of Frank Herbert's seminal sci-fi novel.  The Denis Villeneuve-directed cast includes Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, and Jason Momoa, among others.  Reviews have been great, and I'd expect this to open big, except for the HBO Max factor.  This should still be an easy #1 (and it should be noted that Halloween Kills did well despite streaming on Peacock), but we'll see if the streaming presence holds down the grosses like it has for all the other WB titles this year so far.  Also opening is Ron's Gone Wrong, a rather generic-looking animated title about a boy and his malfunctioning robot.  2021 has not been kind to family films, as everything from Raya and the Last Dragon to Peter Rabbit 2 to the aforementioned Addams Family 2 underperforming.  I wouldn't expect Ron to reverse the cycle.  Will Dune be able to overcome the curse of HBO Max and open north of $50 million? We'll find out next week.