It was all treats for Universal as Five Nights at Freddy's dominates Halloween weekend.
Back in 2014, a modest horror game was released on Steam and in app stores. The plot had the player, as a security guard on his first week at a closed-down pizza restaurant, having to survive against the place's sentient, homicidal animatronics until the end of his shift. From that concept a full media franchise was spawned, not to mention a complicated backstory, which features an impressive amount of child murder for a storyline beloved by tweens. Now, nine years after the game's debut, Five Nights at Freddy's arrived with a bang at the nation's multiplexes, having by far the best horror debut of the year, racking up an impressive $80 million.
That the film hit Peacock day-and-date seemed to have little impact on the film's grosses, as older elementary and middle school kids forwent Halloween parties to head to the multiplexes to see the PG-13 film. Neither did the reviews, which were almost all negative. That suggests there probably won't be much life in Freddy going forward, and indeed its very possible that the film has already grossed more than half of its final total. But given that the film cost a mere $20 million to make, I doubt Universal will be too upset if the film stalls out at $140 million or so.
After two weeks on top, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour found a blank space at second, with a gross of $15.4 million. The concert film is at $150.1 million, now more than twice the final gross of former #1 concert film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. Taylor might also struggle to double her opening weekend box office, but the film is still doing well enough that making it there is more likely than not.
Hope that Killers of the Flower Moon would follow an Oppenheimer-like box office track were dashed when Killers plunged an alarming 60% in weekend two, to $9.3 million, for a ten-day total of $41 million. While the film should continue to play well through awards season, and is still doing much better than most of last year's less commercial Oscar contenders, it is still likely to lose a fortune.
Opening in fourth is the Christian documentary After Death, from Angel Studios, the same company that turned Sound of Freedom into the year's most unexpected blockbuster. The film, which features interviews with people who survived near-death experiences and believe they got a glimpse of the great beyond, made a fairly impressive $5.1 million, instantly making it the year's biggest non-concert film documentary. Of course, it's unclear if it owed that amount to church audiences turning out or horror aficionados mistaking the title for a new horror film.
Speaking of horror, the grosses of The Exorcist: Believer continue to be a frightfest for Universal. The sequel/reboot picked up $3.2 million on the last weekend before Halloween, bringing its total to $59.5 million. Luckily, the profits on Freddy should help offset the losses on Exorcist, for which Universal still is on the hook for two more films.
Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie continues to stick around, bringing in $2.3 million for a total of $59.4 million. The second weekend of the 30th anniversary re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas brought in $2.1 million, for a ten-day total of $8 million, a respectable sum for a re-release. Through its original run and all of its many re-releases over the year it is now up to $85.4 million.
10 years ago or so, a movie like Freelance would have gotten a splashy, 3000 theater release with trailers running for months and commercials all over TV in the weeks before the film's opening. In 2023, it limps into theaters barely noticed, despite starring John Cena. The former wrestler plays a freelance security expert who has to take his journalist charge (Alison Brie) through the jungle when a coup breaks out in the middle of her interview with the country's dictator. Reviews were largely bad, and the film could only come up with a $2.1 million opening, though it is probably only getting a theatrical release for contractual reasons and to help the film when it hits streaming in the next few months.
Rounding out the Top 10, Saw X is coming to the end of its successful revival of the franchise, taking in $1.8 million for a total of $50.4 million. Meanwhile, arguably the biggest flop of the fall outside Exorcist, The Creator, heads toward the door with another $1 million, for a total of $38.9 million.
Usually, the first weekend of November is the launch of the holiday movie season, but when Dune: Part Two hightailed it to March, nothing moved up to replace it. The biggest debut is actually an expansion. A little over a year after Elvis, Sofia Coppola brings in Priscilla, examining the relationship between the biggest music star in the world and his teenage bride from her perspective. Relative newcomer Cailee Spaeny plays the title role, while Jason Elordi follows Austin Butler in playing The King. It opened solidly on four screens, but we'll see if there's a bigger audience as it expands to over a thousand locations. Also opening is the romcom What Happens Later, starring Meg Ryan and David Duchovny as a former couple unwittingly reunited when they're stranded together at an airport, and The Marsh King's Daughter, starring Daisy Ridley as a woman who has to protect her family when her murderous father (Ben Mendelsohn) escapes from prison. Will any of them come anywhere close to #1? Or will Five Nights at Freddy's win despite potentially facing a Halloween Ends-size drop? We'll find out next week.
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