Smile 2 scares up $2.5 million in early Thursday previews

The people at Paramount will also be smiling ear-to-ear as the sequel to the 2022 horror film Smile keeps the scares going this October after Terrifier 3 topped last week’s box office top ten. Smile 2 blew away our own Chris Bumbray as he glowed in his review, “Smile 2 dwarfed its predecessor, but it could rub people the wrong way with its heavy doses of pitch-black comedy. However, Finn also doesn’t skimp on the gore, with it being more gruesome than the original and having a big payoff, which is an all-timer for me as far as these things go. Indeed, I was shocked at how much I loved Smile 2. For me, it’s one of the more entertaining films I’ve seen this year, with the two-hour-plus running time racing by. It’s an all-out gore-soaked blast.”

Deadline is now reporting that audiences lined up for a good scare for the early Thursday preview of the Parker Finn horror movie, and Smile 2 would conjure up $2.5 million as it started its run at 5pm through 3,000 locations. This would best the first movie’s early preview by half a million, while the first would go on to make $22.6 million in its opening weekend and finish its theater life with $105.9 million. The ticket presales were also a good sign for this sequel and the buzz is pretty positive as it sits on a certified fresh 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes while it waits for an audience score.

The Halloween-going crowd also had last week’s Terrifier 3 to give some good scares. The Thursday estimates indicate a slight drop with $1.5 million earned, which will bring its first week run to $26.9 million. The Terrifier movies made a splash with audiences due to the over-the-top violence and dark humor and many are saying that Terrifier 3 is the best in the series yet. The success of this new film is also priming audiences for an inevitable follow-up.

Meanwhile, not all of these October new releases are aiming to scare audiences, the Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh romantic drama We Live in Time from A24 expanded its release to 955 theaters. The film wouldn’t fair with the bigger releases and earned a humble $500k on Thursday.