'Halloween' Sets a Box-Office Record
by EG
The new Halloween sequel didn't have the biggest opening of the year, or the biggest October opening ever, or the biggest opening for a horror movie. It did, however, have the biggest opening for a horror movie in October. Yes, the movie it beat out for the record was that enduring classic Paranormal Activity 3, but still. Read on for details.
All Hallows' Eve came early for masters of horror Universal Pictures and Jason Blum's Blumhouse, literally and figuratively.
Over the Oct. 19-21 weekend, Halloween — a direct sequel to the original film that hit theaters 40 years ago — slashed up the box office with $78 million by attracting audiences across the generational spectrum. It was the best showing of all time for a horror film opening during the Halloween corridor, not adjusted for inflation. The previous record holder was Blumhouse's Paranormal Activity 3, which launched to $52.6 million in 2011 (the threequel was previously the biggest opening for Blumhouse as well).
Halloween also scored the second-best showing of all time for an R-rated horror pic behind the $123.4 million scared up by Warner Bros.' It in early September 2018, as well as the second-biggest October launch ever behind Sony's superhero sensation Venom, which opened to $80 million earlier this month.
Overseas, Halloween started off with $14.3 million from its first 23 markets, led by Mexico ($4.9 million) and the U.K. ($3.6 million), for a global bow of $91.8 million. The film, made for just $10 million before marketing and co-financed by Miramax, will likely turn a profit by the time Oct. 31 rolls around.
Blum's decision to make a sequel to the 1978 Halloween paid off in spades. He convinced that film's director, John Carpenter, to serve as a creative consultant, while Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprised their roles as Laurie Strode and the menacing Michael Myers. David Gordon Green directed.
Often, horror pics draw a predominately younger audience.
But like the movie It, Halloween succeeded in playing across the generations. Roughly 40 percent of ticket buyers were under the age of 25, while 60 percent was 25 and older. Among other recent R-rated pics, nearly 50 percent of The Nun's opening-weekend audience was under the age of 25. And when considering horror movies rated PG-13, roughly 60 percent of the audience turning out for Insidious: Chapter 3 was under the age of 25.
Of those turning out to see Halloween, 8 percent were between the ages of 45 and 54 and 3 percent were over 55, a larger share than for either It or The Nun. The sweetest spot for Halloween was moviegoers between the ages of 25 and 34, or 32 percent, on par with It.
"Our core audience, in essence, was virtually everybody," says Universal domestic distribution president Jim Orr. (The exception is kids, who are restricted when it comes to R-rated fare.)
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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