David Gordon Green’s Halloween Kills scared up a strong $4.9 million in Thursday previews at the box office.
The Universal, Miramax Blumhouse movie is a follow up to Green’s Halloween reboot that opened to a record-breaking $76.2 million in 2018 on its way to earning north of $250 million worldwide in a stunning revival of the slasher franchise. The new generation of films see Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprise their signature roles as Laurie Strode and the menacing monster Michael Myers.
Halloween Kills could be a killer in its own right at the challenged box office, where the movie is widely expected to win the weekend despite the ongoing pandemic and a simultaneous debut on Peacock, Universal’s sister streaming platform.
The R-rated slasher pic is the second in a planned trilogy; the third is Halloween Ends.
Halloween Kills has a powerful weapon in Curtis, who isn’t the only returning thespian from John Carpenter’s iconic 1978 movie. Others include Kyle Richards, Charles Cyphers and Nancy Stephens, while Castle appears in a cameo as Myers/The Shape (the character is primarily played by James Jude Courtney).
The pre-Halloween marquee is unusually crowded with high-profile fare as the box office attempts to recover from the COVID-19 crisis. Gordon’s pic will be playing in a total of 3,700 cinemas on Friday following Thursday’s 7 p.m. previews in 2,950 locations.
Holdover No Time to Die is predicted to place second in its sophomore weekend with $25 million or more (all eyes will be on the big-budget film to see how well it holds). From MGM and EON, the adult-skewing James Bond installment should cross the $100 million milestone by Sunday after strong weekday grosses.
The forecast for new release The Last Duel, a historical epic directed by Ridley Scott, is decidedly more subdued (think $10 million or less).
Set in the Middle Ages, the well-reviewed movie about the last legally sanctioned duel in France stars Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Judie Comer and Ben Affleck. Damon and Affleck co-wrote the adapted script with Nicole Holofcener.
Disney inherited the A-list project when absorbing 20th Century Fox.
Like No Time to Die, The Last Duel — which grossed $350,000 in previews — needs older adults to prosper, a demo that has been more reluctant to return to cinemas (and that doesn’t generally frequent previews).
Both films are receiving an exclusive theatrical release.
Source: HollyWood
