Pre-Halloween ‘Terrifier 3’ lands atop North America box office

NEW indie horror film Terrifier 3 opened atop the North American box office, while last weekend’s leader, Joker: Folie a Deux, suffered a record plunge from its own debut, industry watchers reported on Sunday (Oct 13).

Terrifier 3, from indie studio Cineverse and Icon Events, earned an estimated US$18.2 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, according to Exhibitor Relations. Analyst David A. Gross called that “an outstanding opening for a third episode in an indie horror series”.

The slasher film has Art the Clown back to spread holiday fear and plenty of blood and guts – with David Howard Thornton again playing the psychopathic harlequin.

Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot placed second again, at US$13.4 million. Lupita Nyong’o voices Roz, a robot stranded on a remote island who is forced to befriend woodland animals to survive.

That left Warner Bros’ Joker film, a dark musical Batman spinoff, suffering a huge 80 per cent drop, from the previous weekend’s US$40 million to US$7.1 million – a stunning result for a film with a budget close to US$200 million.

That second-week collapse was the worst ever for a comic book-based movie and one of the biggest for any film, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

In fourth place, down one spot, was another Warner Bros’ film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, at US$7 million. Michael Keaton again plays the back-from-the-dead title character.

And in fifth, at US$3.8 million, was Focus Features’ new Piece by Piece, a comedy-drama using Lego animation to follow the life of singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams. The all-star voice cast includes Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake and Busta Rhymes.

Meantime, a gritty new film about Donald Trump, The Apprentice, detailing his early rise in New York, had a weak opening, placing 10th with US$1.6 million. Trump had threatened to try to block the release over its often unflattering depiction. Sebastian Stan plays Trump.

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Rounding out the top 10 were:

Transformers One (US$3.7 million)

Saturday Night (US$3.4 million)

My Hero Academia: You’re Next (US$3 million)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (reissue) (US$2.3 million)

The Apprentice (US$1.6 million). AFP