Let it be known that this past weekend belonged to one movie and one movie only: Halloween.
The Blumhouse-produced horror sequel debuted to an eye-watering $77.5 million at the box office – second only to New Line’s It in terms of R-rated horror openings. That’s impressive in and of itself, particularly when you consider that Venom had only just gone ahead and set a new October record with $80.2 million a few weeks before.
But it seems Michael Myers isn’t done slicing it up at the box office just yet. Far from it, in fact, as the iconic slasher has now collected $87.2M domestically and $15.8M overseas, which puts the film at $103 million at the time of writing. Yes, Halloween just passed the $100 million milestone and we couldn’t be happier about it. Especially since it only took about a week to do so, which is even more impressive when you remember that its budget was just $10 million.
Though Blumhouse’s sequel played things fast and loose in terms of continuity and timeline, the so far successful slasher pic was still very much steeped in the franchise DNA, which was clear by the multiple callbacks and nods to John Carpenter’s original classic. Not to mention the inclusion of Nick Castle as the Shape.
Add to this Jamie Lee Curtis’ return as Laurie Strode, arguably the original – and most iconic – Scream Queen, and it’s pretty clear that the Halloween of 2018 is a nostalgia-fueled ride that’s gone down very well with horror fans the world over following its impressive opening on Friday.
Make no mistake about it, folks, Halloween is off to a cracking start in theaters, and it’ll no doubt continue to reign for at least another few weeks, as the only real release of significance that’s coming down the pipe is Suspiria, though we have a sneaking suspicion that Luca Guadagnino’s remake will only cater to a niche audience when it opens next Friday.