\n\tHalloween was light on the box office treats.<\/p>\n
\n\tTicket sales nearly ground to a halt without any new releases, as well as the misfortune of the spooky holiday landing on Friday (meaning families were trick-or-treating, not visiting their local movie theater). Another distraction was Saturday night\u2019s Major League Baseball championships, which saw the Los Angeles Dodgers score a victory<\/a> over the Toronto Blue Jays in a nail-biting Game 7. As a result, revenues between Friday and Sunday amounted to just $43 million, marking the worst weekend of the entire year, according to Comscore.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe cavalry cannot get here soon enough,\u201d says Comscore\u2019s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian. \u201cThe industry is in dire need of a boost [after] this scary-slow World Series-impacted, Halloween-festivity-laden weekend. It\u2019s emblematic of what has been a quiet post-summer moviegoing corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnother scary stat: This closes out the lowest-grossing October in 27 years with domestic earnings stalling at an abysmal $425 million, the poorest haul since October 1997 with $385 million, not adjusted for inflation. This ignominious record doesn\u2019t include 2020, when theaters hadn\u2019t rebounded from the pandemic.<\/p>\n \n\tAlthough Halloween is traditionally a moribund period at the box office, October is usually the time when studios start to launch their awards hopefuls. Instead of providing a box office jolt, though, Oscar contenders and big-budget tentpoles alike, such as Dwayne Johnson\u2019s \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d Luca Guadagnino\u2019s \u201cAfter the Hunt,\u201d Disney\u2019s \u201cTron: Ares\u201d and \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d struggled to show signs of life.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a surprise win, the Colleen Hoover adaptation \u201cRegretting You<\/a>\u201d rose to No. 1 with $8.1 million from 3,424 theaters in its sophomore outing. However, Universal\u2019s \u201cBlack Phone 2<\/a>\u201d was ever-so-slightly behind with $8 million from 3,305 venues \u2014 so the final order could shift when final numbers are confirmed on Monday.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cRegretting You\u201d declined just 41% from its debut, bringing ticket sales to $27.5 million in North America and $50 million globally against a $30 million budget. Hoover is the author of last year\u2019s sleeper hit \u201cIt Ends With Us.\u201d Two of her other novels, \u201cVerity\u201d and \u201cReminders of Him,\u201d are being adapted by other studios for theatrical release in 2026. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBlack Phone 2\u201d has grossed $61 million domestically and $104 million globally to date. The scary sequel is this year\u2019s only Blumhouse release to get anywhere near the $100 million mark, though \u201cFive Nights at Freddy\u2019s 2\u201d in December will attempt to continue the good fortunes.<\/p>\n \n\tIn another potential photo finish, Netflix\u2019s \u201cKPop Demon Hunters<\/a>\u201d re-release likely tied for No. 3 with Sony and Crunchyroll\u2019s \u201cChainsaw Man\u00a0\u2013 The Movie: Reze Arc,\u201d with both films estimating a $6 million weekend haul. <\/p>\n