Michael Myers and Laurie Strode’s final showdown proved the main attraction at the box office last weekend.
Universal/Blumhouse’s Halloween Ends, the last film in director David Gordon Green’s trilogy and the 13th instalment in the 44-year-old franchise, opened at no. 1 with $1.5 million from 371 screens.
That result almost exactly on par with the debut of last year’s Halloween Kills, which opened just as lockdown ended in NSW and Victoria.
Halloween Ends, which sees Jamie Lee Curtis reprise her role as Laurie for the seventh time, also opened as no. 1 in the US/Canada, generating $US41.2 million. The soft result has been blamed on the fact it released there day-and-date on Peacock.
Overall, horror was the order of the weekend, with Halloween Kills only narrowly outpacing Smile in its third frame.
The Paramount title, directed by Parker Finn and starring Aussie Caitlin Stasey, continues to benefit from strong word of mouth, dropping only 16 per cent to $1.4 million to take its cume to $5.3 million. Worldwide Smile has made $US137.6 million and counting.
“Halloween Ends opened a bit softer than what we were expecting, however I suspect it has been impacted by the performance of Smile, whose audience would be almost identical, and which continues to fire dropping only 16 per cent into its third weekend,” Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard tells IF.
“That film now looks like it’s tracking to over $8m in Australia, and absolutely extraordinary number, and goes to show the simple power of word of mouth on a good, original film.”
Other than Halloween Kills, the only new release to make the top 10 was Pakistani action film The Legend of Maula Jatt – a remake of the 1976 cult classic Maula Jatt. Written and directed by Bilal Lashari, the Punjabi-language film stars Fawad Khan in the titular role, that of a fierce prizefighter with a tortured past who seeks vengeance against his arch nemesis.
The actioner premiered in eighth position, earning $255,751 from 53 screens for distributor Grange House Music Publishing.
Overall the box office seems to be in a lull, with Numero data putting the top 20 titles at $7.5 million, down 34 per cent on the previous weekend. However, this coming weekend should see a pick up with the release of DC film Black Adam.
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell tells IF it’s hard to predict what to expect from the tentpole, which stars Dwayne Johnson.
“It might start slightly slower than some similar movies being a new character and due to the loss of momentum for the past two months, but the lack of much competition should benefit it. We are certainly banking on it being the biggest opening since July,” he says.
In third position last weekend behind Halloween Kills and Smile was Warner Bros.’ Don’t Worry Darling, which fell 46 per cent in its second frame to $1.2 million. So far, the Olivia Wilde psychological thriller, starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Chris Pine, has amassed $5.2 million.
Both now five weekends in, Ticket to Paradise stands at $14.2 million for Universal after collecting another $786,165, while WB’s DC League of Super-Pets sits on $17.3m after earning $574,343.
Disney’s Amsterdam fell 51 per cent in its sophomore frame with receipts tallying $480,556, advancing to $1.7 million.
Wog Boys Forever is now officially the second highest grossing Australian film of the year behind Elvis. Distributed by Kismet, the Nick Giannopoulos comedy earned $416,230 in its second weekend (a fall of 49 per cent), which takes it to $2.42 million.
Whodunnit See How They Run, distributed by Disney, is now at $1.9 million after three weekends, having earnt another $213,012.
Rounding out the top 10 was Paramount’s Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank, which gathered $186,398 in its fourth frame to advance to $3.6 million.
Of the other Australian titles in release, Gusto Films’ documentary The Lost City of Melbourne was up 24 per cent in its seventh weekend, pocketing another $15,200 to grow to $198,468.
Fellow local doc Franklin was also up 25 per cent in its sixth, with $11,004 advancing its total to $249,391 for Bonsai Films.
WB’s Elvis is still screening in a handful of cinemas after 17 weekends, with its gross $33.4 million.
Transmission’s body image doc Embrace Kids had a 95 per cent boost to collect $4,545 in its seventh and move to $91,783.
Madman is still playing Goran Stolevski’s debut You Won’t Be Alone on limited screens, with the critically acclaimed film having made $86,342 after four weekends.