The RedState Box Office Report

As our national horror holiday approaches Hollywood loaded up with appropriate content. That doesn’t mean however they gave us the high quality content to scare up big numbers! (See what I did there?)

It was going to be a challenge this weekend given many would be staging Halloween parties ahead of the Tuesday arrival. Compelling offerings would need to draw attention, but a number of new titles failed to draw the crowds. It was like the studios were that huge house you race up to, expecting large candy bars to be given out, and they drop gluten-free sesame seed honey clusters into your bag. Let’s dump out our box office bags and see what we came home with this week.

1.  JIGSAW – $16.25Million
While seemingly a fit for the horror frame, the torture porn franchise may night have been what was desired. Or the fact that this was the EIGHTH title from the “Saw” franchise could mean there is fatigue with the guignol gore-fest. This was the lowest opening in the entire series, and it was hoped as a recharge for the franchise. So, we may only be seeing three to four more down the road…

2.  BOO 2: A MADEA HALLOWEEN – $10.0m
While dropping a respectable -53% this is considered perfectly nestled in the Tyler Perry universe. It has already drawn $35million and should land it right in the usual finish for Perry’s titles.

3.  GEOSTORM – $5.67m
Last week’s delicious disaster of a disaster film had another tough time weathering the audience apathy. A -59% drop is notable any time, but against a severely depleted opening week means this is eroding faster than the coastlines in the movie that were assaulted by tidal waves.

4.  HAPPY DEATH DAY – $5.1m
The surprise hit cheapie from the Blumhouse discount film factory still drew some eyes for the holiday. It cost less than $5million, and is about to earn $60million globally. That is the way to do the film business correctly.

5.  BLADE RUNNER 2049 – $3.96m
On the other hand here you have a collaborative studio effort that cost a fortune and is withering in theaters. It has already dumped about 1,600 screens domestically, and though the foreign box office has been stronger it has drawn $200million, which is roughly only half of what was needed to start turning a profit.

6.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE – $3.7m
This was an earnest military drama about soldiers dealing with PTSD. It was received well by critics, and audiences that did come out graded it with a decent “A-”, but the subject seems to be a little too heavy to draw a crowd. Universal gave it a strong marketing push in red states, and with military groups, but even the theme song by Shania Twain becoming a hit could not bring in a significant audience.

7.  ONLY THE BRAVE – $3.45m
Another true-life drama about firefighters released last week actually saw a strong hold of -40%, a sign of some positive word maybe luring in additional eyes. Still the soft opening means even this good news brings its total to just $12million so far.

8.  THE FOREIGNER – $3.21m
Jackie Chan’s dramatic-action turn has do respectable here (nearly $30m) but he has drawn three times that amount overseas for the small distributer STX Films.

9. SUBURBICON – $2.8m
Here is an abject failure of a launch. Marquee names (Matt Damon stars, George Clooney directs) and a respected pedigree (the Coen Brothers wrote the screenplay) should have led to cinematic gold. What the hell happened?! Well, the script was actually from back in the 1990s, and Clooney decided to add a completely different storyline to send a contemporary social message, completely eclipsing the Coens’ quality. It toured the major film festivals and was not given an impressive reception. The critics scorched the film, and audiences graded this with a dismal “D-” score. The projections for the weekend were around the $6million level, and the movie could not even draw HALF that figure! That is complete rejection in the marketplace.

10.  IT – $2.46m
This friggin clown just won’t go away! It has floated $650million worldwide. I cannot even make a “penny” joke here after that return.

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