In an absolute wild twist of fate at the box office, it’s looking increasingly likely that Terrifier 3, the low-budget slasher flick from Damien Leone, might actually unseat Warner Bros’s $200 million Joker: Folie a Deux at the box office this weekend. A few months ago, this would have been unthinkable, but given how toxic word of mouth has been for Joker, it looks like the film will have a massive drop-off at the box office this weekend after opening to a MUCH lower than expected $37 million. Morbius and The Marvels, which both had similarly bad openings, dropped off 74% and 78% at the box office in their second weekends, and neither had Joker’s D CinemaScore rating to contend with. I’m expecting Joker 2 to fall about 70%, which would give it an $11 million weekend.
Terrifier 3, from the indie studio Cineverse, should be able to topple Joker 2. It looks like it will open with at least $12 million—possibly more. The word of mouth has been excellent on this gruesome sequel (our critic Tyler Nichols disliked the other movies in the series but loved this one), and Terrifier 2 proved to be an unexpected hit, so this looks like it might be a big success story for all involved, especially as the cult fervour around the series grows.
Third place should go to Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, which has performed well in limited release. The movie tells the story of the hours before the first airing of Saturday Night Live, and it’s earned Reitman his best reviews since Up in the Air (we loved it). It should nab about $10 million. The Wild Robot shouldn’t be too far behind it with about $8 million, while Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice should take fifth place with about $7 million.
Here are our predictions:
- Terrifier 3: $12 million
- Joker: Folie a Deux: $11 million
- Saturday Night: $10 million
- The Wild Robot: $8 million
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: $7 million
Do you think Terrifier 3 will pull off the upset of the season? Let us know in the comments!
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