Halloween Kills certainly made its presence known at the domestic box office this weekend, pulling in one of the best openings for a movie with a dual streaming debut. Directed by David Gordon Green, Halloween Kills is the long-awaited follow-up to 2018's Halloween, the slasher that successfully rebooted the iconic horror franchise. It was originally scheduled for release in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic pushed it back to this weekend. Additionally, the pandemic also led Universal to give Halloween Kills a day and date release on Peacock for no additional cost to subscribers.
2021 has seen varying results in regards to the box office's recovery. While some movies have struggled to find a foothold in theaters despite perhaps courting success in pre-pandemic times, such as the DCEU's The Suicide Squad, others have flourished and brought the domestic box office closer to normal numbers. Recent examples of this include Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which recently set the record for the biggest opening weekend since the pandemic began.
According to Variety, Halloween Kills has kept the positive numbers going in its first weekend. Michael Myer's latest rampage earned $50.4 million over its first three days, an impressive number when considering its availability on Peacock. Other movies that have been released simultaneously on streaming have struggled somewhat to make an impression at the box office, and save for Disney's Black Widow, Halloween Kills has scored the biggest opening for a film also available on streaming. Black Widow, though, cost $30 on Disney+, making its streaming release different from Halloween Kills'.
The other major new offering for the weekend, Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, failed to make an impression on audiences and only pulled in $4.8 million. When considering its budget, which stands well over $100 million, this is a disappointing start. Older adults have been notoriously wary about venturing out to theaters amid the pandemic, and as The Last Duel was relying on mature audiences, it sadly isn't too surprising that it struggled in its debut even with its impressive pedigree. It came in at #5 for the weekend, behind Halloween Kills, No Time to Die ($24.3M), Venom 2 ($16.5M), and The Addams Family 2 ($7.2M).
Though The Last Duel underperformed, Halloween Kills' result is certainly cause for celebration. It still came in below the 2018 Halloween ($76 million), but when considering the pandemic and its streaming release, it's a positive result for this day and age. Halloween Kills also has one of the best openings of the year for a horror movie; its genre should help keep the movie afloat in the coming weeks as the titular holiday comes to pass. This is a win for the theatrical experience and for the enduring franchise.
Source: Variety
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/2YVuCLO
0 Comments