DC and Warner Bros.’ Black Adam had no trouble topping the Halloween weekend box office, although the superhero pic dropped more than expected considering it had little competition.
The film earned an estimated $27.7 million from 4,402 theaters in its second outing. That’s a drop of 59 percent, one of the bigger declines for a film starring Dwayne Johnson in a lead role (excluding the Fast & Furious franchise). Nonetheless, the movie raced past $100 million at the domestic box office on Saturday and is projected to finish Sunday with a domestic cume of $111.1 million and nearly $200 million globally.
Among relatively recent Johnson movies, Jungle Cruise fell 55 percent in its second weekend. Ditto for Jumanji: The Next Level. Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs and Shaw fell more or nearly 58 percent. When it comes to superhero far, it isn’t uncommon to see a studio title fall off 60 percent or more, although generally speaking those films opened to $100 million or more (Black Adam debuted to $67 million).
Universal’s romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise held well in its second weekend, dropping just 39 percent to $10 million from 3,692 cinemas for a 10-day domestic total of $33.7 million and $119.4 million globally. The Julia Roberts and George Clooney movie is a needed win for adult-skewing fare, as well as for romantic comedies.
The major Hollywood studios generally avoid opening big event pics over Halloween weekend (this year the actual holiday falls on Monday), save for horror fare.
Lionsgate’s new horror pic Prey for the Devil opened in third place with an okay $7 million from 2,980 theaters. The film faced plenty of competition between Smile, which remained a standout in its fifth weekend, and Halloween Ends.
Smile, from Paramount, placed No. 4 with $5.1 million from 3,221 locations as it crossed the $92 million mark domestically. Universal, Blumhouse and Miramax’s Halloween Ends followed with $3.8 million from 3,419 sites in its third weekend for a domestic tally of $60.3 million (the pic is also available on Peacock).
Halloween or no Halloween, there was plenty of action at the specialty box office as awards season heats up.
MGM and UAR’s Till, which expanded nationwide into 2,058 theaters, came in No. 6 or No. 7 with $2.8 million for a domestic cume of $3.6 million. The critically acclaimed film received a coveted A+ CinemaScore from audiences, and did especially well in the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest.
Focus Features’ Tár also expanded in a major way, grossing d $1 million from 1,087 theaters for a domestic total of $2.5 million through Sunday.
James Gray’s Armageddon Time and abortion drama Call Jane both struggled in their openings, however.
Also from Focus, Gray’s movie is opening in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Its projected opening location average was a soft $12,000.
Roadside Attractions opted to roll out Call Jane in 1,070 cinemas. The historical drama, set in the 1960s when abortion wasn’t yet legal, earned $204,755 for the weekend. Roadside chief Howard Cohen said the distributor was proud to have released the film at such a crucial time following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe vs. Wade.
More to come.