It has been 14 years but Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of Halloween has finally been dethroned from the Labor Day weekend box office record. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings shattered the record with a $90 million 4-day debut but it’s pretty impressive that Halloween has held on to the record for as long as it has.
Halloween claimed the record in 2007 when it debuted at $30.6 million over the Labor Day holiday. The figure was impressive, particularly for a horror film, but it was also extremely frontloaded as Zombie’s take on Halloween was very polarizing. The film tapped out at $58 million domestically and $80 million worldwide. The movie was still declared a hit, however, given its rather slim $15 million budget.
The film came close to being dethroned from the record during its eleventh year with the title. The fourth weekend of word of mouth hit, Crazy Rich Asians, came in with $28.5 million which got it close to the record but it ultimately fell short. At the time, Rob Zombie’s website had this to say about holding on to the title:
“Rob Zombie’s Halloween was released in 2007, and broke the Labor Day Weekend Box Office with a $30.5* million weekend gross (previously held by M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense” with $29,271,146*). Ever since then, many have tried valiantly to unseat Big Mike from that record, including The Possession, Morgan, Lawless, Don’t Breathe and a teeny-tiny pop band called One Direction, but all have failed. This Labor Day Weekend, director Jon M. Chu’s critically acclaimed comedy, Crazy Rich Asians, took on the challenge and almost killed Mike off, taking in a weekend gross of $28,310,000*. That means for the ELEVENTH YEAR RUNNING, Rob Zombie’s Halloween reigns supreme over the coveted 4 day weekend market. Congrats to Crazy Rich Asians for the great effort and thank you for helping make Halloween a success.”
As of this writing, Zombie’s camp hasn’t congratulated Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on its box office success as the new Labor Day champ but I’m sure they were happy to hold the record for as long as they did. Definitely an impressive feat for the horror genre.
What are YOUR thoughts on Halloween 2007 giving up the Labor Day weekend title?