On October 20, in Los Angeles, North America’s Halloween film season is in full swing, with the latest entries such as “Terrifier 3” and the recently premiered “Smile 2” taking the top spots at the box office.
According to data released by BoxOfficeMojo on October 20, the weekend box office for North America, covering the period from October 18 to 20, reported approximately $67.34 million from 37 films. This marks a 7% decrease from the previous weekend, continuing a downward trend over three reporting periods.
The suspenseful horror film “Smile,” written and directed by Parker Finn, was originally released in 2022 and became one of the biggest box office hits of that year, earning over $217 million worldwide on a budget of around $17 million. Its sequel, “Smile 2,” debuted on October 18 and quickly claimed the single-day box office title in North America. It grossed approximately $23 million during its opening weekend, placing it at the top of the latest North American box office rankings. The film’s opening figures and overall reception have outperformed its predecessor, currently rated 7.3 on IMDb, 66 on Metacritic, and boasts an 83% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes (from 131 reviews), while receiving a CinemaScore of B.
Another new addition to the North American weekend box office top ten is “We Live in Time,” starring the well-known actor Andrew Garfield. This romantic drama, which had a limited release on October 11, saw a dramatic increase in box office revenue as the number of theaters showing it grew from single digits to three digits. This weekend, it grossed approximately $4.19 million, an impressive 1,699% increase from the previous weekend, propelling it from 18th to 5th place on the chart, with current ratings of 7.4 on IMDb, 60 on Metacritic, and 80% freshness on Rotten Tomatoes (from 132 reviews).
In addition, the rest of the North American weekend box office rankings remained relatively stable.
The animated sci-fi adventure “The Wild Robot,” produced by DreamWorks, claimed the second spot for a third consecutive weekend, grossing about $10.1 million. The film’s North American box office has now surpassed $100 million, with a global total nearing $200 million.
The horror film “Terrifier 3” saw a significant drop of 50.8% in its second weekend, yielding approximately $9.31 million and sliding from the top spot to third place. Its North American gross currently stands at around $36.22 million, with total earnings of about $41.58 million.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” a fantastical horror-comedy, slipped from third to fourth place with a weekend gross of approximately $5 million. The film has surpassed $284 million in North American earnings and over $435 million globally, now ranking fourth among 2024 North American box office titles, beating out the sci-fi action film “Dune: Part Two.”
As showing theaters decrease, the crime musical drama “Joker: Folie à Deux” fell 68.9% in its third weekend, grossing around $2.18 million, dropping from fourth to sixth place. The film’s North American earnings now sit at approximately $56.44 million, but its total worldwide box office has reached around $192 million, thanks to markets outside North America accounting for about 70% of its revenues.
Looking ahead to next week, new releases include the sci-fi thriller “Venom: The Last Dance,” the thriller “Conclave” starring Ralph Fiennes, and the horror-comedy “All You Need Is Blood,” all set to debut on October 25.
