'Halloween' Slays the Competition Again
by EG
Halloween stayed on top of the box-office race for a second weekend in a row, as no new movies could mount a serious challenge. Read on for more results from the weekend box office.
Blumhouse and Universal's Halloween has no doubt decided on its All Hallows' Eve costume — profit monster.
Thanks in large measure to Venom, A Star Is Born and now Halloween, domestic revenue has already hit a record for the month, or $789.9 million, well above the previous best set in 2014 ($757 million).
A direct sequel to the classic 1978 slasher pic, Halloween grossed a stellar $32 million from 3,990 theaters in its second weekend, where it stayed atop the chart to finish Sunday with a domestic tally of $126.7 million. That's the best showing for an R-rated horror pic since It a year ago, as well as one of the top showings of all time for the genre, not adjusted for inflation.
Halloween also scared up headlines internationally, where it beat Venom to top the foreign chart with $25.6 million from 47 markets for an offshore total of $45.6 million and $172.3 million globally. Another big winner overseas was Fox's Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which sang its way to a $12.2 million debut in the U.K. following its premiere in London last week and ahead of its domestic launch later this week. The U.K. opening came in 127 percent ahead of the music-infused A Star Is Born, 95 percent ahead of The Greatest Showman and 46 percent ahead of La La Land.
Other notable achievements for Halloween in North America: It scored one of the top showings ever for the Halloween corridor. And the pic has fast become Blumhouse's top-grossing title behind Get Out and Split. Halloween's sophomore outing was no doubt aided by getting a berth in some Imax theaters that were previously showing Universal's troubled astronaut drama First Man.
Directed by David Gordon Green and costing just $10 million to produce before marketing, Halloween dropped 58 percent, a strong hold for a slasher or horror title. Box-office analysts say Halloween — which features Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as the iconic Laurie Strode — is the rare picture that has already reached profitability.
A Star Is Born, from Warner Bros., stayed at No. 2 with $14.1 million from 3,904 locations for a domestic tally of $148.7 million. Overseas, where it isn't singing quite as loudly, the remake crossed the $100 million mark over the weekend after earning $17.6 million from 75 markets for a foreign cume of $104.6 million and $253.3 million globally.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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