As the horror season is among us with a string of thrillers on the box office charts, Smile tops all receipts with a total gross of $84,432,083 since its Sept. 30 debut, with the Dwayne Johnson mega hit Black Adam bringing in an impressive $67,000,00 domestic U.S. and nearly $143,000,000 worldwide.
Nice hauls for these two releases, but the month to date ($360,096,478) is still lagging significantly behind the same months of 2021 ($623,827,457) and pre-pandemic 2019 ($781,640,026) with six days left to go. Let’s hope the final weekend of October is frighteningly good.
On a positive note, 2022 has already surpassed 2021’s total gross revenues, but still lags significantly behind 2019 by $5.3B USD with a little more than two months to go.
Black Adam (released on Oct. 21) has gained mixed reviews…panned by many critics (an average of just a 41 score on Rotten Tomatoes) but loved by an enormous amount of the audience (90 percent). Coupled with heavy marketing, it should help October and November’s receipts as we head into holiday season, which will be anchored by Avatar: The Way of Water, scheduled for a December 16 release.
According to Variety, “Expectations [for Avatar: The Way of Water] are going to be much higher than the usual $1 billion threshold most A-tier blockbusters chase, especially with the inevitable ticket price boost from 3D and premium screens around the world,” says Shawn Robbins, the chief analyst at Box Office Pro.
Rounding out the month’s Top 5 (to date) include Halloween Ends ($54,177,950), Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile ($28,764,028), and The Woman King ($21,345,954).
An honorable mention goes to the Julia Roberts/George Clooney rom-com Ticket to Paradise, which pulled in $16,509,095 domestic U.S. after it first weekend, and a very respectful $80,595,000 internationally. Ticket to Paradise is about a divorced couple teams up and travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago.
November releases include The Fabelmans, a coming-of-age movie that is loosely based on Steven Spielberg's own childhood growing up in Arizona; and, Devotion, a true story of U.S. Navy fighter pilots, Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner.
See you at the movies!