The box office this weekend is expected to be all over the place, with some movies smashing records and others failing to meet even the most conservative projections. The good news is that following a $3.8 million opening day, Paramount’s horror smash Smile is expected to take first place at the box office for the second weekend running. A total of $22.6 million was made in its first three days of release. A 26% drop in its second weekend would make Smile one of the best holds ever for a horror picture. This type of decline is typical for a Christmas smash or an Oscar candidate during the height of the awards season.
Paramount made the right call in deciding to distribute Parker Finn’s feature film in theatres rather than on streaming services following positive feedback from early screenings. Smile, starring Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Jessie T. Usher, Kal Penn, Caitlin Stasey, and Rob Morgan, reportedly has a budget of $17 million. Currently, the domestic total for the picture is at a fantastic $50 million. After Scream, Jackass Forever, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Lost City, and Top Gun: Maverick, this is Paramount’s sixth consecutive box office success of the year.
This year’s unanticipated lull following the summer movie season has been a good opportunity for studios to premiere horror pictures. Both Smile and The Barbarian profited enormously from this. After a disappointing $3.47 million on Friday, Sony’s live-action/animated Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is expected to earn between $12 and $13.5 million worldwide. A more optimistic forecast placed the family-friendly film’s debut at $18 million. The $50 million film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon cost a total of Shawn Mendes and provides the voice of the crocodile in Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, an adaptation of Bernard Waber’s children’s novel of the same name.
The reviews haven’t been great, but an A- CinemaScore on opening day might bode well for the film’s box office success. Many successful movies have been propelled to the top by positive word of mouth. With an anticipated $7 million in its debut weekend, after a $2.6 million Friday, director David O. Russell’s star-studded historical thriller Amsterdam is tanking. Costing an impressive $80 million to make, the picture features the talents of Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Taylor Swift, Michael Shannon, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Robert De Niro, and Rami Malek. Unfortunately, it garnered a B CinemaScore from moviegoers, which along with the negative reviews might mean the film’s demise.
20th Century Studios would have hoped that Amsterdam would generate some award buzz, but in the post-pandemic climate, movies with an older target audience have struggled to find an audience. The Woman King, a returning favourite, placed fourth, and Don’t Worry Darling, another returning favourite, placed fifth; they are expected to earn $5 million and $3.3 million respectively at the finish line. In all, the weekend earned around $60 million, down about 4% from the previous weekend and down about 59% from the same weekend in pre-pandemic 2019. The last instalment of David Gordon Greene’s Halloween trilogy opens in theatres next weekend.