Halloween Slashes Competition with $77.5 Million Debut

Universal and Blumhouse’s Halloween , the 11th entry in the log running horror series, took the box office by storm. The new film brought in $77.5 million domestically with another $14.3 million internationally for a global debut of $91.8 million. Even when adjusting for inflation, the film is already the fourth highest grossing in the series and will likely challenge the 1978 original for the top spot in the franchise. Halloween‘s opening is now the #2 highest opening in October, behind Venom by just a few million dollars, and did set the record for the best opening of Blumhouse Productions by besting Paranormal Activity 3‘s $52.5 million from 2011. Directed by David Gordon Green, the film stars Jamie Lee Curtis once again as Laurie Strode. The cast for the film also includes Judy Greer who plays Karen Strode, the daughter of Curtis’ character, and Andi Matichak who plays Allyson, the granddaughter of Laurie Strode.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ A Star is Born held onto the second place position once again with another $19.3 million., dropping just 32.2% weekend to weekend. The film now sits at $126 million domestically with another $74.7 million from international markets, giving it a global total of $201 million. A Star is Born stars four-time Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper and multiple award-winning, Oscar-nominated music superstar Lady Gaga (as Stefani Germanotta), in her first leading role in a major motion picture. Cooper helms the drama, marking his directorial debut.

Columbia Pictures’ Venom fell to third place, adding another $18.1 million to its domestic total The Spider-Man less spin-off now sits at $171 million with $290.7 million internationally. Globally the film has brought in $461.2 million, and could become Sony’s highest grossing 2018 release (currently it sits behind Hotel Transylvania 3). Directed by Ruben Fleischer, the film stars Tom Hardy, Riz Ahmed, and Michelle Williams. Venom is produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal.

Sony Pictures‘ Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween held the fourth place position with $9.715 million, bringing the domestic total to $28.8 million. The sequel is performing modestly but has seen a significant drop from the first film’s haul in 2015 which opened to $23.6 million and at the same time had brought in $43.7 million. The family horror comedy is directed by Ari Sandel and stars Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Caleel Harris, with Chris Parnell, and Ken Jeong.

Universal Pictures‘ Oscar hopeful First Man fell from third to fifth place with $8.56 million. Domestically the biopic has now brought in $29.9 million, a red alert for the mid-budget sized drama (estimated to have a $60 million budget). Ryan Gosling stars as Neil Armstrong in the film alongside Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Shea Wigham, and Jon Bernthal.

20th Century Fox’s adaptaion of the book The Hate U Give opened in wide release and took in $7.5 million across 2300 theaters (an expansion of two thousand new screens). The film has now brought in $10.6 million at the domestic box office. Directed by George Tillman Jr. from a screenplay by Tina Mabry and Audrey Wells, The Hate U Give stars  Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Issa Rae, Sabrina Carpenter, Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, Anthony Mackie, K.J. Apa, and Common.

Warner Bros. animated adventure Smallfoot brought in another $6.6 million making its domestic total $66.3 million. The animated adventure now has a worldwide total of $137.1 million. Smallfoot boasts an impressive voice cast, including Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, Danny DeVito, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, and Jimmy Tatro.

Universal Pictures‘ Night School fell to seventh place but managed to still bring in $5 million, giving it a a domestic total of $66.9 milion. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee, Night School also stars Tiffany Haddish, Taran Killam, Rob Riggle, Romany Malco, and Ben Schwartz