Paramount and Constantin Films’ romance-drama Regretting You — the second Colleen Hoover book adaptation to hit the big screen after It Ends With Us — is proclaiming itself the victor of this year’s Halloween box office contest.
According to Sunday estimates from Paramount, Regretting You placed No. 1 with $8.1 million from 3,245 cinemas in its sophomore outing.
Or did it? Universal is likewise estimating a first-place finish for Blumhouse’s Black Phone 2 with $8 million from 3,425 cinemas (rival studios also show the horror sequel, now in its third weekend, coming in ahead of Regretting You).
But last weekend, Black Phone 2 and Regretting You did switch positions when final numbers came in, with Regretting You beating the Blumhouse pic. Monday will determine the correct order of the Oct. 31-Nov. 2 frame, and whether Paramount was being too bullish.
Generally in such situations, a studio in Universal’s position would call the contest a tie, but in this case, no one is complaining, considering overall ticket sales for the weekend came in at $49.8 million — the worst showing of the year to date.
But that’s not the most frightening fact — it was the lowest-grossing Halloween weekend in 31 years, according to Comscore. This excludes 2020, when the COVID-19 crisis forced theater closures for months.
The last time Halloween weekend revenue came in lower was in 1993, when combined ticket sales reached $49.2 million, not adjusted for inflation, according to Paul Dergarabedian at Comscore.
This year’s Halloween weekend meltdown — which follows the worst October in 27 years — is due to the lack of any new product, a carry-over event pic, such as 2024’s Venom: The Last Dance. This year, exhibitors had to rely on holdovers, rereleases including Back to the Future and the expansion of Focus Features’ awards darling and specialty offering Bugonia, which earned a tidy $4.8 million as it expanded into 2,043 theaters.
Halloween can be a tough holiday for Hollywood cinema owners, especially when the actual day falls on a Friday, as it did this year. Regretting You took a major hit on Friday since its target audience — younger females — were otherwise occupied. On Saturday, sales spiked 200 percent.
Many expected Regretting You to be dinged by generally withering reviews, but the female-fueled pic garnered strong exits on PostTrak and boasts an audience score of 87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes (its CinemaScore, however, was only a B). It’s also a testament to Hoover’s continued popularity.
More to come.
