Halloween is set to be a massive box office hit this weekend, and it could match October’s all-time record set by Venom only a couple weeks ago. Directed by David Gordon Green, the new Halloween is the latest in an ever-growing line of legacy sequels looking to bring iconic Hollywood properties back to the forefront of the zeitgeist. Smartly tossing aside decades of convoluted continuity, this film serves as a sequel only to the 1978 original - picking the story up 40 years after Laurie Strode’s first encounter with Michael Myers.
Fortunately for everyone involved, Halloween looks to be a return to form for the franchise. For the first time since that watershed first movie, a Halloween film is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning the horror masters at Blumhouse have another critical darling under their belts heading into the weekend. And with that kind of word-of-mouth, it’s all but a guarantee the movie will have a very fruitful debut at the box office.
Earlier estimates had Halloween pegged for around $70 million domestically in its first three days, but Box Office Pro says it could open as high as $80 million if everything breaks right. That would equal the all-time October opening weekend, which was Venom earlier this month. It would also far and away be the highest debut in the Halloween franchise, outgrossing the U.S. totals of all the previous entries.
Halloween is definitely coming out at the perfect time. It’s been a new golden age for horror, especially last year when films like Split, Get Out, IT, and Happy Death Day (several of which were from Blumhouse) had highly-successful commercial runs. Also, as alluded to above, the film industry’s current obsession is reviving iconic brands with new installments that not only appeal to a new generation of fans, but tap into the nostalgia of longtime viewers. Halloween certainly checks off all of those boxes, with Blumhouse already planning a sequel. Plus, with the actual Halloween holiday right around the corner, general audiences will be in a mood for a good scare. So far this season, many of the “spooky” titles have been of the entertaining, family-friendly variety, so there’s a demand for a genuine horror movie.
With Halloween running away with the weekend crown, returning holdovers will be fighting over the remaining spots in the top five. A Star is Born and Venom are expected to be second and third, respectively, continuing to pad their already impressive totals. After failing to truly take off with viewers last weekend, Damien Chazelle’s First Man should fall to fourth in its second week. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween will likely round out the top five, offering younger viewers a “scary” alternative for the holiday.
More: How Much Did Halloween Cost To Make?
Source: Box Office Pro
- Halloween Release Date: 2018-10-19
