411 Box Office Report: Black Phone 2 Holds Well In Quiet Weekend, Regretting You Takes #1

The Halloween box office was very quiet this weekend, with Regretting You and Black Phone 2 claiming the top two spots. Regretting You pulled ahead of its competition to take #1 as it was down 41% in its second frame to $8.1 million. That’s a decent result for the romantic drama. By comparison, It Ends With Us fell 52%; however, it had further to fall.

The newer of the Colleen Hoover adaptations now has a very respectable $27.5 million domestically and $50.8 million worldwide. Those numbers position it to be profitable on a $30 million budget. Paramount can thank the lack of strong performers this weekend for that. The film looks like it will close out domestically around $45 million or so, a moderate success.

Before we go further, a few notes about this weekend. The Halloween box office was the lowest for the holiday in 13 years with just $53.6 million. What happened? Well, the answer is multi-faceted. The World Series certainly took some audiences away, and Halloween itself isn’t generally a great day for box office.

But the most salient point is that potential films moved away from the release window. Mortal Kombat II was scheduled for October 24th before being moved in August. And Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael moved from October 3rd to April 2026 in May. Both of those films would have spiked the box office to different degrees.

Meanwhile, Black Phone 2 held well in its third weekend. Universal & Blumhouse’s horror sequel was down just 38% to $8 million. The film is well into profit at this point with $61.5 million domestically and 104.8 million worldwide. It’s tracking a bit below the first film but with a $30 million budget it’s still a win. It still looks on par for around $75 million by the end of its run.

Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc took a hefty fall as expected. The anime film fell 67% in its sophomore frame to $6 million. That’s better than the 75% drop for Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle — but again, Chainsaw Man had less room to fall.

The film remains a massive hit for Sony and Crunchyroll regardless. It has $30.1 million domestically and $139 domestically, a hit for the studios. Domestically, it should close out around $40 million.

Netflix took advantage of the quiet weekend to re-release KPop Demon Hunters in theaters. The Sing-Along Edition added $5.3 million to its coffers. The animated sensation’s performance was solid considering it was a last-minute addition and has been available to watch on Netflix for almost five months. The film has now grossed $24.3 million between its two single-weekend releases, adding to its value for Netflix and Sony Animation.

Our first semi-new release was Bugonia, which expanded wide from 17 theaters to place at #5. The Yorgos Lanthimos-directed mix of sci-fi and dark comedy took in $4.8 million, about where it was expected to land. That’s the best start by a Lanthimos film, beating the $2.9 million wide release expansion of Poor Things in January 2024.

Lanthimos is not a director who brings in mainstream crowds, and no one was expecting a massive financial hit from this movie. Searchlight Pictures took on this film because Lanthimos is a prestige director who brings in home viewing revenue and awards. That said, Bugonia had an eyebrow-raising budget at $45 million. For a film as unfriendly to mainstream audiences as this one, it’s a big swing.

It remains to be seen if that swing will bring in awards, but it’s off to an okay start. The film was liked by critics at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences who saw it knew what they were getting into. The RT audience rating is 83% and the CinemaScore is a B. This won’t have the legs of Poor Things and will probably close out with around $18 million to $20 million domestically.

Universal re-released Back to the Future this weekend, and it did well enough with $4.7 million. The 1980s sci-fi comedy celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and audiences were willing to re-experience it on the big screen. The film’s all-time gross is at $220.3 million domestically and $393.6 million worldwide.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere took a fall in its second weekend. The music biopic sealed its fate by dipping 57% to just $3.8 million. It’s all bad news for 20th Century Fox here. Deliver Me From Nowhere has a mere $16.3 million domestically and $30.6 million worldwide. With a $50 million budget, this is a money loser. The final domestic take should be around $25 million.

The best thing Deliver Me From Nowhere can say is it won’t lose as much money as Tron: Ares. The sci-fi action threequel was down 43% in its fourth weekend to $2.8 million. This is a pure bomb at the box office at this point. Ares has grossed $67.9 million in the US and $133.9 million worldwide, a bomb against a $180 million budget. The domestic total probably won’t hit $75 million.

Briarcliff Entertainment snuck into the top 10 with its animated comedy Stich Head. The family film grossed $2.1 million in the US and $3.2 million worldwide. Those are pretty numbers for a low-profile, lightly-marketed film.

Briarcliff’s MO is to put out films for short theatrical runs (which is essentially a form or marketing) and then make their money back on home viewing and such. So far, so good here. It will be out of theaters quickly and no word on its budget, but it should do well enough for their purposes.

Lionsgate’s Good Fortune closed out the top 10 with a 55% drop in its third weekend to $1.4 million. The comedy is a full failure at this point with $14.6 million stateside and $15.8 million worldwide. The budget was $30 million. Good Fortune will end its run around $18 million.

We’ll have a new #1 next weekend as Predator: Badlands arrives. The sci-fi action sequel is looking at around $25 million or so to start. Also opening is the Sydney Sweeney-led boxing drama Christy, which will be in the low single digits.

Box Office Top Ten (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)

1. Regretting You – $8.1 million ($27.5 million total, $50.8 million WW)
2. Black Phone 2 – $8 million ($61.5 million total, $104.7 million WW)
1. Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc – $6 million ($30.8 million total, $139 million WW)
4. KPop Demon Hunters – $5.3 million ($24.3 million total, $24.3 million WW)
5. Bugonia – $4.8 million ($5.8 million total, $11.1 million WW)
6. Back To the Future – $4.7 million ($220.3 million total, $393.6 million WW)
7. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere – $3.8 million ($16.3 million total, $30.6 million WW)
8. Tron: Ares – $2.8 million ($67.9 million total, $133.9 million WW)
9. Stitch Head – $2.1 million ($2.5 million total, $3.2 million WW)
10. Good Fortune – $1.4 million ($14.6 million total, $15.2 million WW)