There's only room for one killer clown at the top of the box office.
“Terrifier 3” reached number one in North America, grossing $18.3 million from 2,514 theaters in its opening weekend. It's a great opening to a low-budget ultra-gore about a monstrous clown who brutally murders a small town.
Meanwhile, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which topped the box office last weekend, slipped to third place with $7.055 million from 4,102 theaters. It could move into fourth place behind holdover “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” when final numbers are tallied on Monday.
The eccentric comic book musical, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a reclusive comedian and part-time clown, has seen a pitiful 82% drop in ticket sales since its already disastrous $37.6 million debut. It ranks as one of the second biggest weekend drops for the superhero genre, behind last year's “The Wonders” (78.1%), “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania” (69.9 %), the misfire of “Shazam” plummeted. more severely. : Fury of the Gods” (69%) and “The Flash” (72.5%).
To date, “Folly à Deux” has grossed $51.6 million domestically and $165.3 million worldwide. The Warner Bros. film It has a price tag of $200 million and, at this rate, will struggle to come close to the $450 million needed to break even, according to sources familiar with the finances.
“Terrifier 3” received a surprisingly positive response from critics and audiences for such a disturbing film, scoring a “B” on CinemaScore and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. The blood-soaked trio, which has no Motion Picture Association rating, sparked conversations about the violence, with distributor Cineverse launching a hotline for viewers to complain about the killings.
The third installment of “Terrifier” has already surpassed the entire global run of its predecessor, 2022’s “Terrifier 2.” That film defied the odds — and rightly dared viewers not to vomit — earned $10 million domestically and U.S. $15.7 million worldwide, a frighteningly good result for a micro-budget production. The third film, again directed by Damien Lyon, features the sadistic Art the Clown, who usually attacks around Halloween, but this time decides to wait until Christmas to unleash his terror.
“This is a great opening for the third film in an independent horror series,” said David A. Gross, an analyst at film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research. “The series is not at the level of the studio’s horror films – they are great films – but (…) it is a great reward.”
Another newcomer, “Piece by Piece,” a documentary telling the story of Pharrell Williams' life using Lego animation, came in sixth place with $3.8 million from 1,865 locations, falling short of expectations. Focus Features is releasing the $16 million-budgeted film, which received a promising “A” CinemaScore and holds an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Morgan Neville, whose sincerity includes Mr. Rogers’ acclaimed doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” As well as “6 meters from stardom”, highlighted the document.
“Musical biopics and Lego each have a strong track record on the big screen. This hybrid is not on the level of that individual genre,” says Gross. However, he added: “The cost was reasonable. The film will do well in the ancillary market and will be profitable there.”
Sony's “Saturday Night” struggled to break through to mainstream audiences in two weekends of limited release. The suspenseful showing in the opening broadcast of “Saturday Night Live” came in seventh place, with a muted $3.4 million gross from 2,300 theaters over the weekend. The Jason Reitman-directed film cost $30 million and will need to show resilience (and attract some awards attention) to turn a profit.
Another new release, “The Apprentice,” fell to 11th place with $1.58 million at 1,740 locations. The biographical drama, starring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and struggled to find a buyer until Briarcliff Entertainment acquired the rights. Reviewers and audiences were mixed, earning a “B-” CinemaScore and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. One prominent critic is Trump himself, who has threatened legal action against the film. His team issued a statement over the summer saying, “This rubbish is pure fiction, sensationalizing sensational lies that have long been debunked.”
At the domestic box office, Universal and DreamWorks Animation's “The Wild Robot” rose to second place with $13.45 million in its third weekend of release. The well-reviewed family film has so far grossed $83.73 million domestically and $148 million worldwide.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Transformers One” rounded out the top five. The first, a sequel to Tim Burton's favorite 1988 horror comedy, came in fourth place (always slightly behind “Joker 2”), with US$7.050 million in its sixth weekend on the big screen. The “Beetlejuice” sequel grossed $275 million in North America and $420 million worldwide. The latter, an animated origin story about Optimus Prime and Megatron, finished in 5th place, ahead of several newcomers, with $3.65 million in its fourth release. So far, it has grossed $52.8 million domestically and $111 million worldwide.
With “Joker 2” failing to make a splash at the box office, year-to-date earnings are down 11.2% from the same point in 2023 and 26.4% from 2019, according to ComScore.
“It will be a very low box office overall picture and pales in comparison to the same period last year when 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour' had a big debut,” said Paul Dargarabedian, senior analyst at comScore. “This is part of the box office ups and downs that have been highlighted in 2024 theaters.”
