1. Terrifier 3
Cineverse | NEW
$18.25M Domestic Opening Weekend
The third movie in a cult horror series, unrated and released by a distributor that usually handles event cinema releases… Terrifier 3 has indeed proven itself the Cinderella of spooky season by debuting at the top of the box office, handily beating the second frame of Joker: Folie à Deux. A weekend total of $18,258,276 million on 2,514 screens gives the film a per screen average of $7,263—by comparison, a higher figure than the opening weekend PSA for summer release Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. It’s a big jump for the franchise, given 2022’s Terrifier 2 brought in $10.9M during its entire eight-week run across Halloween season, with 1,550 screens at its peak.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked, alongside $2,395,699 in Thursday preview actuals. Saturday and Sunday figures are estimates…
- Friday – $5,803,577 million
- Saturday – $5,917,000 million
- Sunday – $4,142,000 million
Terrifier 3 effectively used grassroots marketing to get the word out to its horror hound audience; according to Deadline, Cineverse (a player in the streaming space and the parent company of popular horror brand Bloody Disgusting) spent less than $1M all-in on marketing with no national ads. (Many networks won’t run ads for unrated movies.) Promotion for the film built off the success of the first two Terrifier movies—particularly Terrifier 2, which earned $10.6M against a reported $250,000 budget—as well as a generally positive reception from critics (78% on RT) and audience members (90% audience score, “B” CinemaScore). PostTrak was four stars (76% positive, 59% definite recommend), with males the largest audience at 61% and 18-24 year olds the biggest age group at 37%. A whopping 55% of Terrifier 3 ticket sales were walk-ups/same day business, helping to propel it to the high-end of our weekend prediction. Director/series architect Damien Leone already teased THR about an extended cut of Terrifier 3 as well as a fourth and “final” series entry, now in the planning stages.
3. Joker: Folie à Deux
Warner Bros. | Week 2
$7M Domestic Weekend
$51.6M Domestic Cume |$165.3M Global Cume
We are living through an unprecedented performance for a big studio comic book movie, though it’s absolutely not in the way Warner Bros. or exhibitors wanted. Last week, Joker: Folie à Deux underwhelmed on its opening weekend to the tune of $37.6M and a “D” CinemaScore rating (the lowest ever for a superhero movie), indicating that word of mouth on the film was not shaping up well for the comic book sequel. In its second frame, the Joker sequel fell -81%—the lowest-ever drop for the DC brand—to take the #3 spot in 4,102 (n/c) for a $1,720 PSA (the lowest of the Top 6). Not only was its opening weekend a 2.5X reduction from the original’s $96.2M, at this point it’s possible that the second Joker won’t even earn $96.2M in its entire theatrical run.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked:
Friday – $2.2M
Saturday – $2.8M
Sunday – $2M
Joker 2 being vanquished by Terrifier 3 is the biggest box office upset since Sound of Freedom beat Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on July 4 of 2023. The Joker sequel was also out-earned by the third weekend of DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot at #2, which held strong with only -29% and already has a sequel in development. With the failure of Joker 2 and several awards season movies to gain traction, box office was down substantially from the same frame last year, which was dominated by Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
Overseas, Joker 2 took in an additional $22.7M on 18,366 screens in 77 markets, with Japan ($2.4M on 889 screens) being the newcomer. Compare that to the Japanese opening of 2019’s Joker with $7M, with that territory becoming the first movie’s third biggest foreign market at $46.7M. Three biggest market cumes are U.K. ($11.8M), Germany ($7.9M), and Italy ($7.6M), with the global cume standing at $165.3M.
5. Piece by Piece
Focus Features | NEW
$3.81M Domestic Opening Weekend
Focus Features’ experimental LEGO animated docu-biopic Piece by Piece earned $3.81 million from 1,865 theaters for a PSA of $2,038. Directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), the story of pop superstar Pharrell Williams featured a slew of names like Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked…
- Friday – $1.5M
- Saturday – $1.3M
- Sunday – $990K
Audiences were predominantly male at 57% to 43% female, with a majority (52%) under 25 and 53% in the 18-34 range. A massive 70% of the audience was under age 35. Here’s what demographics looked like…
- 36% Caucasian
- 35% Latino
- 19% Black
- 10% Asian/Other
Although this is certainly the lowest opening for a LEGO-branded film, it was not targeted specifically toward children and is rather a potential award season film which could qualify for both animated and documentary consideration. Among music docs, its opening is lower than 2003’s Tupac: Resurrection (Paramount) at $4.6M and just a bit above the Fathom release of 2019’s BTS World Tour: Love Yourself in Seoul ($2.86M). RT critics gave Piece by Piece a solid 81% fresh rating, while audiences gave it 94%. It also nabbed the best CinemaScore of a crowded week with a solid “A,” indicating audiences were pleased and may build next frame.
Focus Features President of Distribution Lisa Bunnell said in a statement: “With an ‘A’ CinemaScore, a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter, and great exit polls, we’re thrilled to see audiences across America fall in love with Piece by Piece. It’s an incredibly unique animated biopic which operates on many levels like Pharrell Williams himself, an individual who deeply impacts global culture. We could not be prouder to be part of this film and can’t wait for audiences to continue to enjoy it in theaters in the coming weeks.”
Other Notable Performances
We pegged Sony’s SNL origin film Saturday Night as a potential wild card breakout this weekend, but audiences were lukewarm on the 1975 period piece from director Jason Reitman. In its third weekend and first going wide into 2,309 theaters, Saturday Night landed at #7 with $3,435,269 million for a $1,488 PSA. Perhaps Saturday Night could earn love on the awards circuit, though its middling 80% RT and “B+” CinemaScore don’t bode well there either.
Toho’s My Hero Academia the Movie: You’re Next took in $3,007,420 million on 1,845 screens for a $1,630 PSA, landing at #8 on the charts after garnering an “A-” CinemaScore and 90% critical/92% audience on RT. Having already earned over $25M worldwide, this marks the second-lowest domestic opening for the anime franchise after the previous three opened to $1.3M, $5.8M, and $6.2M respectively.
Disney’s traditional re-release of Henry Selick’s 1993 classic The Nightmare Before Christmas took in an estimated $2.3M on 1,700 screens to land at #9, bringing its lifetime cume to $89.9M. In August of this year, Fathom Events’ re-release of Selick’s 2009 stop motion film Coraline brought in $9.8M its first 2024 frame before tallying around $20M over five weeks for a $116.4M lifetime. Last year’s Nightmare re-release took in $4.29M over the October 20 weekend before ultimately raking around $7.1M over three 2023 frames.
Tom Ortenberg of indie distributor Briarcliff Entertainment recently told THR that it was “cowardice” on behalf of the majors to not release the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice. Released by Briarcliff on 1,740 screens, the film opened to $1.58M for a $908 PSA, putting it in the #10 spot. Having big stars like Sebastian Stan as 45 and Emmy/Golden Globe/Tony winner Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn didn’t sweeten the pot for audiences iffy on the flick, nor did the “B-” CinemaScore indicate strong word of mouth.
A24’s nonlinear romance We Live in Time, which tracks ten years in a relationship between characters played by Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, got off to a promising start with $225,911 in 5 theaters for a $45,182 PSA. Studio reports multiple sold-out q&a’s in LA this weekend along with positive exit polls. A24 is also projecting a $29,290 Monday for the holiday weekend before expanding on Oct 18 and going wide Oct 25.
Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates | Weekend 41 – 2024
Total 3-Day Domestic Estimates: $70,230,417M | (-47.2% vs 2023)
| Title | Weekend Estimate | % Change | Locations | Location Change | PSA | Domestic Total | Week | Distributor |
| Terrifier 3 | $18,300,000 | 2,514 | $7,279 | $18,300,000 | 1 | Cineverse | ||
| The Wild Robot | $13,450,000 | -29% | 3,854 | -143 | $3,490 | $83,737,000 | 3 | Universal |
| Joker: Folie à Deux | $7,055,000 | -81% | 4,102 | n/c | $1,720 | $51,611,000 | 2 | Warner Bros. |
| Beetlejuice Beetlejuice | $7,050,000 | -30% | 3,408 | -168 | $2,069 | $275,617,000 | 6 | Warner Bros. |
| Piece by Piece | $3,800,000 | 1,865 | $2,038 | $3,800,000 | 1 | Focus Features | ||
| Transformers One | $3,650,000 | -32% | 2,758 | -348 | $1,323 | $52,851,000 | 4 | Paramount Pi… |
| Saturday Night | $3,435,269 | +1,168% | 2,309 | +2,288 | $4,189,000 | 3 | Sony Pictures | |
| My Hero Academia the Movie: You’re Next | $3,007,420 | 1,845 | $1,630 | $3,007,420 | 1 | Toho Interna… | ||
| The Nightmare Before Christmas | $2,300,000 | 1,700 | $1,353 | $89,907,116 | 1,618 | Walt Disney | ||
| The Apprentice | $1,580,000 | 1,740 | $908 | $1,580,000 | 1 | Briarcliff E… | ||
| Speak No Evil | $1,500,000 | $0 | 1,602 | -677 | $936 | $35,208,000 | 5 | Universal |
| The Substance | $1,141,388 | $0 | 586 | -100 | $1,948 | $11,748,670 | 4 | MUBI |
| Average Joe | $1,115,895 | 1,713 | $651 | $1,115,895 | 1 | Fathom Events | ||
| White Bird: A Wonder Story | $755,000 | -$1 | 1,038 | 20 | $727 | $3,041,412 | 2 | Lionsgate |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | $751,000 | -$1 | 990 | -615 | $759 | $635,234,103 | 12 | Walt Disney |
| Look Back | $239,320 | -$1 | 162 | -369 | $1,477 | $1,547,834 | 2 | GKIDS |
| Megalopolis | $230,000 | -$1 | 227 | -1,627 | $1,013 | $7,344,372 | 3 | Lionsgate |
| We Live in Time | $225,911 | 5 | $45,182 | $225,911 | 1 | A24 | ||
| The Forge | $210,481 | $0 | 303 | -207 | $695 | $28,669,000 | 8 | Sony Pictures |
| Never Let Go | $146,000 | -$1 | 247 | -734 | $591 | $10,229,010 | 4 | Lionsgate |
| Am I Racist? | $115,000 | -$1 | 207 | -355 | $556 | $12,150,106 | 5 | SDG Releasing |
| Alien: Romulus | $69,000 | -$1 | 90 | -175.00 | $767 | $105,247,141 | 9 | 20th Century… |
| A Different Man | $46,971 | -$1 | 103 | -162.00 | $456 | $569,104 | 4 | A24 |
| It Ends With Us | $16,358 | -$1 | 54 | -253.00 | $303 | $148,335,000 | 10 | Sony Pictures |
| Vindicating Trump | $15,500 | -$1 | 67 | -362 | $231 | $1,351,449 | 3 | SDG Releasing |
| The Front Room | $12,331 | $0 | 22 | -17 | $561 | $3,568,315 | 6 | A24 |
| Daaaaaali! | $7,000 | $1 | 13 | +6 | $538 | $12,837 | 21 | Music Box Films |
| The Cruise | $5,573 | 1 | $5,573 | $244,007 | 1,356 | Oscilloscope… |
Share this post