411 Box Office Report: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Holds At Top Spot, Speak No Evil Starts Solid

It was a second weekend for supernatural comedy atop the box office as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice retained the #1 spot. The horror comedy sequel scored $51.6 million for its sophomore frame, down 54% from its impressive opening weekend. That is a very good hold for a film that was expected to be fan heavy and opened with better-than-expected numbers last frame, matching the percentage drop that Deadpool & Wolverine had (albeit at a much lower opening weekend).

Beetlejuice is already well on its way to a hefty profit for Warner Bros, having totaled $188 million domestically and $264.3 million worldwide against a $100 million budget. It should not have any issue making it to at least $260 million and perhaps more.

A more serious genre option opened at #2 with the Speak No Evil remake. Universal’s mainstream take on the 2022 Danish horror thriller opened to $11.5 million, just slightly ahead of the $10 million that was expected going into the weekend. It’s a decent result for a film that remade a two-year-old movie, one that was a favorite among horror fans but is far less well-known among mainstream audiences.

The box office can be credited to a combination of prevalent marketing – you couldn’t miss the trailer if you went to any horror or horror-adjacent films over the past several months – and strong buzz. The film overcame heavy skepticism from most fans of the original when the reviews came in; they currently stand at a great 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. And fans love it too with a B+ CinemaScore (great for horror) and an 84% RT audience rating.

Those numbers should help the film out in successive weeks, though the film is already well positioned for profit. It added $9.3 million overseas for a $20.8 million worldwide start against a $10 million budget plus marketing costs. Even with some horror competition coming down the line, it should be able to make it to around $28 million and perhaps more in the States, numbers the studio will be pleased with.

Deadpool & Wolverine was down just 26% in its eighth weekend, bringing in $5.2 million. The MCU sequel has now tallied up $621.5 million domestically and $1.305 billion worldwide, fantastic numbers. It’s now set to surpass The Avengers’ $623.4 million to become the 13th highest domestic grossing film of all time, and could very easily pass Barbie’s $636.2 million for #12. Its budget was $200 million.

The documentary Am I Racist? had an impressive start, surpassing expectations to open at #4 with $4.8 million. The film from conservative firebrand Matt Walsh had the best opening for a documentary since Angel Studios’ After Death opened to $5.1 million in October of last year, and the best for an explicitly political documentary since Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 opened to $23.9 million all the way back in 2004.

Am I Racist? earned praise from a handful of critics, but the key to the film’s success was how SDG Releasing marketed it toward its target audience. This sort of film rise or falls on word of mouth, and the word of mouth was good with an A CinemaScore and a 99% RT audience score. Releasing during the height of election season, a canny decision by the studio, didn’t hurt it either.

All that said, the film is – like most documentaries – not likely to have much in the way of legs. But the film is already an almost certain success, though it’s budget isn’t known. It could make it to $10 million if it follows the traditional documentary route.

Reagan continued to show good legs, down just 39% in its third weekend to $3 million. The Dennis Quaid-led biopic of the late President has now totaled $23.3 million against a $28 million budget, making it more likely to make profit once it hits digital. $30 million looks to be its domestic final.

Dave Bautista’s The Killer’s Game opened quietly with $2.6 million for the #6 spot. That’s below the $5 million or so that the action comedy was expected to score heading into the weekend. The Lionsgate production was the victim of being bowled over by more enticing opens at the box office for genre fans, and poor reviews (37% RT critic aggregate score) didn’t help draw any skeptical fans in.

Lionsgate has a busy final few months of 2024 set; The Killer’s Game is one of five films releasing from the smaller studio before 2025. That resulted in a muted marketing campaign with low awareness from your average moviegoer that it even existed. It’s also the studio’s second flop in a row following The Crow’s failure to take flight last month.

The good news for The Killer’s Game is that those who did see the film generally liked it. It has a 77% RT audience score which is okay if not great; the B+ CinemaScore is much better. It started too low for any legs to matter, but there’s always a chance it finds its audience on digital. The budget was $30 million but Lionsgate’s risks are said to be lower thanks to streaming and foreign sales. Domestically it won’t top $10 million.

Alien: Romulus showed good legs in its fifth weekend, down just 39% to bring in $2.4 million. The sci-fi horror sequel has totaled $101.3 million stateside and $330.7 million worldwide, already a good hit $90 million budget. It’s still on course for close to $110 million by the end of its domestic run.

It Ends With Us raked in another $2 million, down 45% in its sixth weekend, to bring its numbers to $144.9 million domestically and $325.5 million worldwide. It’s a hefty hit against a $25 million budget and will finish out at $150 million.

The Forge’s strong legs continued with $2 million this weekend, down 33% from the previous frame. Sony Pictures’ drama has now grossed $24.1 million domestically and $24.4 million worldwide. It is a hit against a $5 million budget and should finish off with around $28 million stateside.

Fathom Events put the PureFlix’s God’s Not Dead franchise back in theaters with the fifth entry, God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust which opened at #10. The film opened above the one-weekend run of God’s Not Dead: We the People, which took in $1.1 million in October 2021. It was however behind the three previous entries which opened at $9.2 million (God’s Not Dead), $7.6 million (God’s Not Dead 2 and $2.7 million (God’s Not Dead: A Light In the Darkness).

No word on the film’s budget but it should be out of the top 10 fairly quickly, as is typical for the franchise. Still, PureFlix and Fathom are likely happy with the result.

Next weekend will see a new #1 as Transformers One targets around $40 million to $50 million. The other wide releases are Lionsgate’s horror film Never Let Go and Mubi’s buzzy body horror film The Substance, both of which will be in the single digits.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – $51.6 million ($188 million total, $264.3 million WW)
2. Speak No Evil – $11.5 million ($11.5 million, $20.8 million total)
3. Deadpool & Wolverine – $5.2 million ($621.5 million total, $1.305 billion WW)
4. Am I Racist? – $4.8 million ($4.8 million total, $4.8 million WW)
5. Reagan – $3 million ($23.3 million, $23.3 million WW)
6. The Killer’s Game – $2.6 million ($2.6 million total, $2.6 million WW)
7. Alien: Romulus – $2.4 million ($101.3 million domestically, $330.7 million WW)
8. It Ends With Us – $2 million ($144.9 million total, $325.5 million WW)
9. The Forge – $2 million ($24.1 million total, $24.4 million WW)
10. God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust – $1.5 million ($1.8 million total, $1.8 million WW)