The Black Phone 2 Scares Up No. 1 as the Box Office Slumps to a Yearly Low
The Black Phone 2 stalks to the top of the year’s weakest box office weekend, while a KPop Demon Hunters re-release barely makes a sound.
Halloween weekend at the box office is leaning hard into the trick part of the holiday. Unless something wild happens, this is shaping up to be the lowest-grossing weekend of the year, with nothing even sniffing $10 million.
The quick snapshot
- The Black Phone 2 (week 3): about $7 million and the likely No. 1
- Regretting You: around $6.5 million for a solid second place
- Chainsaw Man: roughly $5.5 million
- Back to the Future (IMAX re-release): about $5 million, just ahead of...
- Bugonia: on track for about $4.5 million, the best opening of Yorgos Lanthimos's career
- KPop Demon Hunters: roughly $3.4 million for the weekend, per Deadline
The lay of the land
Midweek chatter had The Black Phone 2 circling a $7 million frame, and that looks bang on. It is the third weekend for the sequel, and in this soft market, steady wins the race. I did flirt with the idea that KPop Demon Hunters might steal the top spot, but no, the math does not agree.
KPop Demon Hunters: still strong, but easing off
Netflix being Netflix, they do not report theatrical grosses, but Deadline pegs KPop Demon Hunters at around $3.4 million for the weekend. Considering it is a limited release with only a handful of showtimes per day, that is not a bad haul. The big-picture note: after a pretty wild run, the momentum is clearly cooling a bit.
Bugonia is the art-house standout
Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia is looking at about $4.5 million, which makes this the best opening of his career. His movies usually have legs, and Focus Features is clearly banking on a long glide powered by awards-season buzz. For the budget and the per-theater averages, it is outpacing other prestige hopefuls in the mix right now, specifically After the Hunt and The Smashing Machine. Translation: it is not the highest gross of the weekend, but for what it cost and how widely it is playing, it is winning its lane.
Nostalgia flex: Back to the Future in IMAX
The IMAX re-release of Back to the Future is expected to land around $5 million, which is kind of great for a movie most film fans already own in at least one format (some of us, uh, more than one). The big screen still sells when the title is bulletproof.
Everything else
Regretting You looks like a clean second-place finisher around $6.5 million, and Chainsaw Man is right behind with about $5.5 million.
Meanwhile, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is in its second weekend. No clear read on the number yet, but do not expect a strong hold.
So yeah, thin weekend. If you are heading out anyway, you will have your pick of empty seats.