Michael Myers made a killing opening weekend, as Universal and Blumhouse’s Halloween Kills topped the box office. According to Variety, the new horror movie raked in an impressive $50.4 million during its opening weekend, shocking many that assumed that the studio’s decision to release the movie in theatres and on the streaming service Peacock simultaneously would be its financial downfall.
Well, it turns out you just can’t keep a good slasher down. Halloween Kills has officially scored the title of highest-grossing debut for a streaming day-and-date premiere, beating the hit monster movie Godzilla vs Kong, which previously earned $13.6 million through ticket sales and on HBO Max’s platform. Still, Halloween Kills success is surprising considering its chosen distribution model. In recent months we have seen the dual premiere strategy depress ticket sales during the DCEU’s release of The Suicide Squad and in the family movie Space Jam: A New Legacy.
The slasher’s monumental success suggests that streaming has become accepted for movie releases. It also shows that an increased number of people are venturing back into the cinemas now that Covid-19 restrictions have eased. In conversation with Variety, Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, commented on the horrors impressive results. “This genre and this particular franchise lends itself to the in-theatre experience,” he said. “People want to be scared together. Our core audience was eager and enthusiastic.”
Besides Halloween Kills, the new James Bond movie, No Time To Die, has continued to do well and so far has made $447.5 million. Similarly, Venom: Let There Be Carnage – which opened in the UK on the same day as Halloween Kills – takes third place in the box office race, earning $169.1 million domestically.
Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green, is the follow-up to Halloween 2018, a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s original 1978 film. The thriller movie is full of violent gore and is a fun slasher ride that sets up the events for the third instalment in Green’s Halloween movies, Halloween Ends.
Halloween Ends is set to release on October 14, 2022. In the meantime, you can catch up on the original and four Halloween sequels, currently available on Netflix.