This weekend belonged to Terrifier 3 and Art the Clown as the movie reigned supreme and terrified audiences at the box office.

Terrifier 3 Performs Better Than Expected

Terrifier 3

As per Box Office Mojo, Terrifier 3 brought in $14.1 million this past weekend, which was enough to put it in first place. The movie fended off many other films. Including newcomers Piece by Piece, My Hero Academia: You’re Next, Saturday Night, and The Apprentice.

So what caused this movie to do so well? I think many are surprised, considering the first Terrifier opened to $123,957; and Terrifier 2 opened to $805,000. So not exactly huge numbers. The thing to keep in mind is that Terrifier opened to 400 theatres, and Terrifier 2 opened to 770 theatres. Terrifer 3 opened in 2,514 theatres; that’s six times the number of theatres as the original and over three times the number of theatres as the original. Simply put, there were more options for people to see the movie than the last two, and people responded accordingly.

How Organic Is ‘Terrifier’ And Art The Clown’s Popularity? [Fright-A-Thon]

The Rest Of The Box Office

The Wild Robot maintained its second-place spot with $14 million. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice also maintained its third-place spot with $7.3 million.

Joker: Folie à Deux dropped a historic 81.4% over its debut last weekend, making a measly $7 million. The worst drop in a second week for a comic book movie was The Marvels with 78% and so Joker: Folie à Deux‘s drop is even steeper and shows that audiences are not resonating with the film.

Piece by Piece was in fifth with $3.8 million. Tracking numbers weren’t available for the film but I predicted an $8 million to $12 million debut. A lack of word of mouth and marketing certainly seemed to hold the movie back.

Next Week’s Predictions

Next week sees the release of Anora and Smile 2.

Smile was an unexpected hit for Paramount. It was supposed to be a streaming exclusive but had a $22.6 million debut and ended up making a fair bit at the box office. Horror sequels tend to do better in October, I mean just look at Terrifier 3, but you can even look at Paramount’s recent Scream movies where the fifth film made $30 million on its opening weekend and the sixth made $44.4 million. Smile 2 opening to a $20 million to a $40 million opening isn’t too unfathomable. I certainly see it being closer to $30 million but either way I see it easily being in first place.

Anora is the first Sean Baker film to be distributed by Neon and not A24 which distributed The Florida Project and Red Rocket. While Neon and A24 are rivals in that they are after similar movies and demographics, I don’t see Anora doing more than $2 million at the box office. Especially as it’s only in limited release.

As always, we’ll find out next week!

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How Organic Is ‘Terrifier’ And Art The Clown’s Popularity? [Fright-A-Thon]