‘Regretting You’ and ‘Black Phone 2’ compete for top box office in slow weekend

The movie exhibition business is closing out one of its slowest Octobers in more than 25 years with a weak Halloween weekend.

Studios avoided releasing major new movies because the holiday fell on a Friday. In its place were several re-releases, including “Back to the Future,” which celebrates its 40th anniversary, and the Netflix phenomenon “KPop Demon Hunters.”

But even with a top 10 in which no film earned more than $10 million, there was still some excitement as two studios claimed the number one spot on Sunday. Universal’s horror sequel “Black Phone 2” was widely expected to top the charts in its third weekend in theaters, and the studio reported it was going to be in first place with an estimated $8 million.

About 30 minutes later, Paramount reported that its romantic drama “Regretting You” had earned an estimated $8.1 million, putting it in first place. Box office tracker Comscore ran by the numbers and awarded the first-place title to “Regretting You.” However, Sunday’s numbers are based on estimates and projections, and sometimes Monday’s actual data tells a different story.

“Regretting You” is the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation to be released in theaters since “It Ends With Us” became a smash hit in theaters. With a cumulative domestic total of $27.5 million, this new film isn’t going to match its predecessor, which made $50 million in its opening weekend.

In three weekends, “Black Phone 2” has grossed $61.5 million domestically and $104.7 million globally. Universal also domestically re-released Robert Zemeckis’ “Back to the Future,” which earned $4.7 million from 2,290 theaters, enough to earn fifth place on the North American charts. The 1985 time travel classic now has a domestic total of $221.7 million.

Although there were many HUNTR/X costumes on the streets this weekend, “KPop Demon Hunters” did not perform as well as when it was shown in theaters in August. That weekend, the streaming hit sold between $16 and $20 million in movie tickets. This weekend, it is estimated to have earned around $5 million on 2,890 screens. Two distribution executives shared numbers on condition of anonymity because Netflix has a policy of not reporting ticket sales.

Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll’s “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” dropped a steep 67% in its second weekend and is projected to add $6 million in its run at 3,003 locations, bringing its total to $30.8 million.

Focus Features also released “Bugonia” in wide release after several weeks in limited release. With an estimated $4.8 million in 2,043 theaters, it marks filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’s best wide release to date. The dark comedy thriller starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons is expected to be an awards season contender.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” landed in sixth place, behind “Back to the Future,” and was down 57% in its second weekend. It earned $3.8 million, putting its domestic total at $16.3 million and its global total at $30.6 million.

“This was a truly scary weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of market trends at Comscore. “It was this imperfect storm of Halloween on a Friday and the World Series on Friday and Saturday. But the studios and theaters knew this was coming and they planned for it.”

The weekend may prove to be one of the lowest-grossing weekends of the year, capping an unusually slow October. With the exception of October 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, total ticket sales for the month ($443 million) have not been this low since 1998 ($455.5 million).

However, the next two weekends may bring some energy back to the multiplexes, with releases like “Predator: Badlands” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” but the industry will probably have to wait until closer to Thanksgiving for a real blockbuster when “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2” enter the picture.

“It was always going to be a tough weekend. The audience was really fragmented,” Dergarabedian said. “There are weekends where movie theaters are the center of attention, and those are yet to come.”

Mason Thames, izq., y Ethan Hawke en “Black Phone 2”.

(Sabrina Lantos / Universal Pictures)

The top 10 films by national box office

With final domestic numbers being released Monday, this list takes into account estimated Friday-Sunday ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Regretting You,” $8.1 million.

2. “Black Phone 2”, 8 millones.

3. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc”, 6 millones.

4. “Bugonia”, 4.8 million.

5. “Back to the Future”, 4.7 million.

6. “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”,3,8 millones.

7. “Tron: Ares”, 2.8 million.

8. “Stitch Head”, 2,1 millones.

9. “Good Fortune”, 1.4 million.

10. “One Battle After Another”, 1,2 millones.