Box Office: Dune maintains top spot over Halloween weekend

Dune easily topped the box office over Halloween weekend while newcomers Last Night in Soho and Antlers debuted with disappointing results.

Dune grossed $15.5 million over the weekend which represented a 62% drop from last weekend. The drop seems significant but Dune had to deal with the Halloween weekend so many moviegoers were out and about celebrating the spooky season and since Dune isn’t a horror film, it wasn’t a top priority for people that chose to go to the movies this weekend. Dune should stabilize next weekend and the good news is that the film actually surged 32% from its Friday figure on Saturday. To date, Dune has grossed $69.4 million domestically and after taking in another $21.4 million from overseas markets, the film has topped $292.1 million worldwide.

Due to Halloween falling on Sunday, Halloween Kills held well in its third weekend with a gross of $8.5 million. The film dropped 41% from last weekend which is a solid hold for a horror movie in its third weekend. Halloween Kills was obviously the movie of choice for moviegoers that wanted to see a fright flick to get ready for Halloween and due to that, the film has now grossed $85.6 million domestically and after grossing $8.1 million from international territories, the horror sequel has grossed $115.1 million globally.

In third place, we have No Time To Die which grossed $7.8 million. That’s a decline of 36% which is better from its previous holds ahead of this weekend. The big news for No Time To Die was its debut in China which took in $28.2 million and helped bring its international total to $605.8 million. Is No Time To Die isn’t going to break even for the studio due to its budget, marketing spend, and all of its delays due to the pandemic but its global haul is still impressive given all of the things that were working against it. Domestically, No Time To Die has taken in $133.3 million to date.

Debuting in fourth is My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission with a gross of $6.4 million. These films tend to open decently because they have a solid fanbase but the movie won’t be on anyone’s radar next weekend. That being said, I’m always impressed when the fans show up for these movies opening weekend and it’s clear that’s the reason they keep cranking them out to U.S. audiences.

Rounding out the top five is Venom: Let There Be Carnage which grossed $5.7 million. That’s a decline of 38% which sees the Venom sequel have another solid hold amidst many choices for moviegoers. Domestically, the film has grossed $190.4 million, and $200 million is very much in its sights. Overseas, the film grossed $21.4 million and brought its global gross to $395.8 million.

Outside the top five, we find both Antlers and Last Night in Soho which grossed an identical $4.1 million over the weekend. It’s a disappointing result but not all that surprising due to a few factors. Antlers was delayed several times due to the pandemic which caused the horror pic to lose a lot of momentum. The first trailer debuted in late 2019 and we’re only now getting the film this weekend because of delays that were outside of the film’s control. The film had decent reviews (62% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) but moviegoers weren’t as enthused, giving it a “C+” CinemaScore, which isn’t too good for a horror film. I hope the film finds an audience down the line because it really is one of the better horror movies to come out in recent years.

As for Last Night in Soho, we have a very niche film from a niche director in Edgar Wright. Wright can appeal to a mass audience, just look at the $107.8 million final gross for Baby Driver but Last Night in Soho wasn’t a film meant to appeal to a mass audience. The movie did receive a “B+” CinemaScore which means Edgar Wright fans did enjoy it but it’s clear it didn’t break out beyond his fanbase. Hopefully, this is another movie that will find its audience down the line.

What are YOUR thoughts on this weekend’s box office results?