{"id":186380,"date":"2018-10-22T02:11:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T06:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=186380"},"modified":"2018-10-22T02:11:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T06:11:56","slug":"halloween-scares-77-5-million-ticket-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/22\/halloween-scares-77-5-million-ticket-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Halloween’ scares up $77.5 million in ticket sales"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cHalloween\u201d was enough to bump the comic-book film \u201cVenom\u201d out of the No. 1 spot and into third place. In its third weekend in theatres, it collected $18.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $171.1 million. (File Photo<\/a>: @curtisleejamie\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2013 Forty years after he first appeared in theatres, Michael Myers is still drawing huge audiences for a good scare.<\/p>\n

Universal Pictures said Sunday that \u201cHalloween\u201d took in an estimated $77.5 million in ticket sales from North American theatres.<\/p>\n

It captured first place at the box office with the second-highest horror opening of all time, behind last year’s \u201cIt.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also marked the second highest October opening ever behind \u201cVenom’s\u201d $80.3 million launch earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The studio also says it’s the biggest movie opening ever with a female lead over 55, in star Jamie Lee Curtis.<\/p>\n

David Gordon Green directed \u201cHalloween,\u201d which brings back Curtis as Laurie Strode and Nick Castle as Michael Myers and essentially ignores the events of the other sequels and spinoffs aside from John Carpenter’s original.<\/p>\n

Reviews have been largely positive for the new installment, with an 80 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ Cinema Score from audiences that were mostly older (59 per cent over 25) and male (53 per cent). Internationally, \u201cHalloween\u201d earned $14.3 million from 23 markets.<\/p>\n

Blumhouse, the shop behind \u201cGet Out\u201d and numerous other modestly budgeted horror films, co-produced \u201cHalloween.\u201d It cost only $10 million to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou take the nostalgia for ‘Halloween,’ especially with the return of Jamie Lee Curtis, and you combine that with the Blumhouse brand and its contemporary currency in the genre and it just made for a ridiculously potent combination at the box office this weekend,\u201d said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.<\/p>\n

With 10 days to go until the holiday, including another weekend, the studio expects \u201cHalloween\u201d to enjoy a much longer life than typical horror films that usually drop off significantly after the first weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cHalloween\u201d was enough to bump the comic-book film \u201cVenom\u201d out of the No. 1 spot and into third place. In its third weekend in theatres, it collected $18.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $171.1 million.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile \u201cA Star Is Born\u201d held on to second place in its third weekend with $19.3 million. The Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga drama has grossed $126.4 million from North American theatres and is cruising to break $200 million worldwide Sunday.<\/p>\n

Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong biopic \u201cFirst Man\u201d tumbled to fifth place in its second weekend earning $8.6 million, down 46 per cent from its launch.<\/p>\n

It was a particularly busy week at the box office as critically acclaimed films such as the young adult adaptation \u201cThe Hate U Give\u201d and the Robert Redford swan song \u201cThe Old Man & The Gun\u201d expanded nationwide after a few weeks in limited release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hate U Give,\u201d now in 2,303 locations, placed sixth with $7.5 million, and \u201cThe Old Man & The Gun\u201d took 10th with $2.1 million from 802 locations.<\/p>\n

A number of well-received indies also made their debuts. At the top was Jonah Hill’s directorial debut \u201cMid90s,\u201d which opened in four theatres with $249,500 (or a $62,375 per theatre average).<\/p>\n

The Melissa McCarthy film \u201cCan You Ever Forgive Me,\u201d about the literary forger Lee Israel, grossed $150,000 in five locations.<\/p>\n

October has never been a particularly strong box office month, but 2018 has helped to change that. The weekend was up nearly 72 per cent from the same weekend last October and the year to date is up nearly 11 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry is on a major roll right now,\u201d said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. \u201cAudiences are responding to movies big and small right now \u2013 You can have your cinematic fast food and fine dining all at once right now. The movie-going experience is as viable and relevant as ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201dHalloween,\u201d $77.5 million ($14.3 million international).<\/li>\n
  2. \u201dA Star Is Born,\u201d $19.3 million ($22.8 million international).<\/li>\n
  3. \u201dVenom,\u201d $18.1 million ($32.3 million international).<\/li>\n
  4. \u201dGoosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween,\u201d $9.7 million ($6.2 million international).<\/li>\n
  5. \u201dFirst Man,\u201d $8.6 million ($13.4 million international).<\/li>\n
  6. \u201dThe Hate U Give,\u201d$7.5 million.<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cSmallfoot,\u201d $6.6 million ($14 million international).<\/li>\n
  8. \u201dNight School,\u201d $5 million ($1.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  9. \u201dBad Times At The El Royale,\u201d $3.3 million ($2.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  10. \u201dThe Old Man & The Gun,\u201d $2 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u2013\u2013\u2013<\/p>\n

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cVenom,\u201d $32.3 million.<\/li>\n
    2. \u201cA Star Is Born,\u201d $22.8 million.<\/li>\n
    3. \u201cProject Gutenberg,\u201d $14.7 million.<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cHalloween,\u201d $14.3 million.<\/li>\n
    5. \u201cSmallfoot,\u201d $14 million.<\/li>\n
    6. \u201cFirst Man,\u201d $13.4 million.<\/li>\n
    7. \u201cGoosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween,\u201d $6.2 million.<\/li>\n
    8. \u201cThe Spy Who Dumped Me,\u201d $5.7 million.<\/li>\n
    9. \u201cLost, Found,\u201d $5.3 million.<\/li>\n
    10. \u201cHichki,\u201d $4 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      LOS ANGELES \u2013 Forty years after he first appeared in theatres, Michael Myers is still drawing huge audiences for a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":186386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}