Halloween didn't bring much excitement to the movie theaters this year.
Ticket sales during the holiday were really low because there weren't many new movies coming out. Also, the weekend started on a Friday, which meant that families were out trick-or-treating instead of going to the movies. Another reason for the slow sales was the Major League Baseball championship game on Saturday night. The Los Angeles Dodgers won a tense Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Because of these factors, the box office earnings between Friday and Sunday only reached $49 million, making it the worst weekend of the year so far, according to Comscore.
Comscore's head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian, says, "The industry really needs a boost after this slow weekend, which was affected by the World Series and the Halloween holiday.
This reflects a quiet period for moviegoers after the summer."
Another concerning factor is that this weekend marks the lowest-grossing October in 27 years.
Domestic earnings for the month hit an all-time low of $425 million, the worst since 1997. This doesn't include the year 2020, which was affected by the pandemic when many theaters were closed.
Even though Halloween is usually a slow time for moviegoers, it's usually when studios start promoting their Oscar hopefuls.
However, this year, films like Dwayne Johnson's "The Smashing Machine," Luca Guadagnino's "After the Hunt," Disney's "Tron: Ares," and "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" didn't attract much attention.
A surprise hit was the movie "Regretting You," based on the book by Colleen Hoover.
It came in first place with $8.1 million from 3,424 theaters in its second week. It slightly beat Universal's "Black Phone 2," which made $8 million from 3,305 theaters. The final rankings might change when the exact numbers are released on Monday.
"Regretting You" showed only a 41% drop compared to its first week, bringing its total gross in North America to $27.5 million and globally to $50 million, against a budget of $30 million.
Colleen Hoover also wrote "It Ends With Us," which was a big hit last year. Two more of her books, "Verity" and "Reminders of Him," are set to be adapted for theatrical release in 2026.
"Black Phone 2" has made $61 million in North America and $104 million worldwide so far.
It's the only Blumhouse movie this year to reach close to $100 million, although "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" planned for December might do even better.
Another close race was between Netflix's "KPop Demon Hunters" re-release and Sony and Crunchyroll's "Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc."
Both are estimated to have made around $6 million over the weekend. Netflix isn't releasing numbers for "KPop Demon Hunters," which played in 2,890 theaters. This is the second time the animated musical has been shown in theaters, after becoming Netflix's most popular film ever. It made about $18 million in North America the first time around.
"Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc" topped the box office last weekend and has made $30 million in North America so far.
Like other anime films, it's been more successful internationally, earning $109 million overseas and $139 million worldwide.
In fifth place was "Bugonia," a new film from director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone.
The movie expands to more theaters, making $4.8 million from 2,043 locations. Stone plays a tech CEO who is taken by two people who think she is an alien sent to destroy the Earth. The film received a "B" grade on CinemaScore, which is common for Lanthimos' polarizing films. Most of the audience members were young males, with 61% being men and 39% aged between 24 and 34.
"Back to the Future" returned to theaters for its 40th anniversary, earning $4.7 million from 2,105 theaters.
"The Twilight Saga" also came back to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first book by author Stephanie Meyer. Theaters are showing one of the five "Twilight" movies each night from October 29 to November 2, bringing in about $3 million from 1,500 locations.
Next weekend will see the debut of Disney's "Predator: Badlands," followed by the heist sequel "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" and the remake of "The Running Man" by Edgar Wright and Glen Powell.
But the box office won't really pick up until the Thanksgiving holiday, when Disney's "Zootopia 2" and Universal's "Wicked: For Good" will open. James Cameron's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" on December 19 is expected to finish the year strongly.
Dergarabedian says, "Early November releases will be welcome, but the most important time for the industry will be mid-November through New Year's Eve."
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