This image released by Neon shows Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison, right, in a scene from Anora.The Associated Press
Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend. Smile 2, in its first weekend, and Terrifier 3 in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d’Or winner Anora got the best per-theatre average in over a year.
Smile 2 was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected US$23-million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror Smile, his debut. Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theatres in the fall of 2022. Smile became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some US$217-million against a US$17-million budget.
The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first’s US$22-million.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot in its fourth weekend with US$10.1-million, bumping it past US$100-million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theatres, particularly ones as well reviewed as The Wild Robot, and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into Terrifier 3, which is not rated, instead. Either way, Damien Leone’s demon clown movie, which cost only US$2-million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated US$9.3-million, bringing its total to US$36.2-million.
“Rumours like that are PR gold,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for comScore. “There’s no better indication that that movie is red hot right now.”
The No. 1 openings for Smile 2 this weekend and Terrifier 3 last, were only possible because of the failure of Joker: Folie a Deux. That big-budget sequel continued its death march in its third weekend, falling another 69 per cent to earn US$2.2-million, bringing its domestic total to US$56.4-million.
Warner Bros. has a better performer in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which placed fourth in its seventh weekend with an additional US$5-million, bringing its domestic total to US$284-million. Star Michael Keaton also had another film open this weekend – the father-daughter dramedy Goodrich which stumbled in with only US$600,000 from 1,055 locations.
Rounding out the top five was the romantic tear-jerker We Live In Time, which expanded to 985 theatres following last weekend’s debut on five screens. The A24 release starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh earned US$4.2-million over the weekend. Audiences were 85 per cent under 35 and 70 per cent female, according to exit polls. The well-reviewed film will expand further next weekend.
One of the other brightest spots of the weekend was Sean Baker’s Anora, which opened in six locations in New York and Los Angeles and earned an estimated US$630,000. That’s a US$105,000 per-theatre average, the best since Asteroid City’s US$142,000 average last summer. The Neon release, a sensation at Cannes and a likely Oscar contender, stars Mikey Madison as a New York sex worker who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch.
After several weeks of would-be awards contenders and buzzy films (Piece by Piece, Saturday Night, The Apprentice among them) fizzling with audiences, Anora’s success is a promising sign that moviegoers will still seek out arty, adult fare.
“For moviegoers, there’s a lot on offer with something in every type of movie in every category,” Dergarabedian said. “I think we’re going to have a really strong home stretch with a great combination of movies big and small.”
The Walt Disney Co. also made a splash with several re-releases. The Nightmare Before Christmas got a place in the top 10 with US$1.1-million, while Hocus Pocus made US$841,000.
Next weekend will have a major studio comic book movie with Venom: The Last Dance as well as an awards movie in the papal thriller Conclave vying for audience attention.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. Smile 2, US$23-million.
2. The Wild Robot, US$10.1-million.
3. Terrifier 3, US$9.3-million.
4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, US$5-million.
5. We Live In Time, US$4.2-million.
6. Joker: Folie a Deux, US$2.2-million.
7. Piece by Piece, US$2.1-million.
8. Transformers One, US$2-million.
9. Saturday Night, US$1.8-million.
10. The Nightmare Before Christmas, US$1.1-million.