Box Office Report for the Week of October 8

It hasn’t been the greatest week at the movies again, with only one new release reaching the top with The Exorcist: Believer, though slightly underperforming its $30 million projections with a $27.2 million tally. I know it’s no indication of box office trends and purely anecdotal, but my IMAX showing of the film was empty. Totally empty. A series of lackluster reviews has significantly caused the film to fizzle out, and it likely won’t gain any legs as Universal attempted to jumpstart a new trilogy of Exorcist legacy sequels, disregarding any of the sequels that came after William Friedkin’s 1973 film. Guess the power of Christ has not compelled enough people to rush out to theater to make it happen…

Apart from that, a re-release of Hocus Pocus managed to snag over $1.5 million in over 1,430 theatres, which is quite impressive considering how the film badly underperformed when it was released over 30 years ago. However, home video sales helped it become a cult classic and reach the status it now has as one of the most popular family films of the spooky season.

As for other movies released this weekend, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Saw X are holding up nicely with a $11.7 million and $8.1 million tally, whilst The Creator is unfortunately fizzling out. It’s always a bummer when a purely original film doesn’t perform well at the box office because, more than ever, it shows a sign to the studios that they shouldn’t be made (when it’s not the case) and should instead divert their resources on recognizable IPs. Few original ideas succeed nowadays, and the landscape for the future of cinema seems grim.

However, movie theaters will have quite the boost next week when Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour takes over venues and becomes one of the highest-grossing films of the year. It’ll be quite the competition alongside Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, which is now confirmed to be released in North American theatres (including IMAX) on December 1. The real box office battle of the year is happening very soon…who will come out on top? My money’s on Taylor Swift, but do not underestimate the power of the BeyHive. 

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. The Exorcist: Believer (Universal): $27.2M – 3,663 theatres
2. PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (Paramount): $11.7M (-48.4%) – 4,027 theatres
3. Saw X (Lionsgate): $8.1M (-55.5%) – 3,262 theatres
4. The Creator (Disney): $6.0M (-56.7%) – 3,680 theatres
5. The Blind (Fathom Events): $3.9M (+12.9%) -1,314 theatres
6. A Haunting in Venice (Disney): $2.7M (-24.7%) – 2,425 theatres
7. The Nun II (Warner Bros): $2.5M (-46.3%) – 2,492 theatres
8. Dumb Money (Sony): $2.1M (-35.3%) – 2,837 theatres
9. The Equalizer 3 (Sony): $1.8M (-32.1%) – 1,526 theatres
10. Hocus Pocus (Disney): $1.5M – 1,430 theatres

Source: Box Office Mojo