411 Box Office Report: Terrifier 3 Shocks To Win the Weekend, Joker: Folie à Deux Craters

Art the Clown brutalized the competition at the box office with Terrifier 3 taking #1 as Joker: Folie à Deux imploded. The third film in Damien Leone’s gory slasher franchise slaughtered its way to $18.3 million, blowing past expectations that it would reach perhaps $10 million.

This is, it cannot be emphasized enough, a huge result for the film. The Terrifier franchise has quickly become a cult favorite among hardcore horror fans, but the very things that appeal to them made a mainstream-style box office unlikely. Audiences like horror, but extreme gore hasn’t scored at the box office since the days of Hostel and the early Saw films. And those films were rated R, while Terrifier 3 was released unrated. Unrated and NC-17 films have always had a hard time at the box office due to theaters refusing to show such films, and Terrifier 3 breaks the previous record for a harder-than-R film set by Showgirls which took in $8.1 million to start with all the way back in 1995.

Another factor working against Terrifier 3 is that it isn’t a studio film and thus didn’t have a multi-billion-dollar media machine behind it. The slasher was released by Cineverse and was marketed for around $1 million, with a large focus to the fanbase from the company’s Bloody Disgusting outlet. The promotional efforts were based around the positive reaction to 2022’s Terrifier 2 which was also a breakout hit, but even it didn’t match the threequel’s opening weekend with its total gross of $15.7 million.

So how did the studio pull this off? You can credit a heavy buzz driven by fan-driven hype and positive critical sentiment. The Terrifier fanbase has always been devoted, having helped Leone crowdfund the first film after Art the Clown made his debut in a number of shorts. That fanbase and the film’s notorious violence drove fan awareness, and when out of Fantastic Fest were largely great. The movie has a 78% positive aggregated score on Rotten Tomatoes and that just built upon the buzz heading into the weekend.

But marketing will still only get you so far, and it was positive word of mouth that kept the film from being frontloaded over the weekend. The CinemaScore is a B, which is astounding considering the content and the amount of walk-up business the film delivered. The RT audience score is a great 90% and that helped the film build momentum throughout the weekend.

At this point, Terrifier 3 is already a massive box office success for Cineverse on a budget of just $2 million plus the inexpensive marketing campaign. The bigger question is how high it will climb. It will likely be a bit more frontloaded than the original Saw, especially with Smile 2 coming next weekend. But legs around the range of Saw II (which had a B+ CinemaScore) seems quite possible. That would put the film around the $45 million to $50 million range, which will be absolutely huge numbers. Either way, it’s a hit and then some.

The Wild Robot was a great option for people who didn’t want to take their kids to a gorefest, and it was down just 29% in its third weekend to $13.5 million. The Universal Pictures animated flick is well on its way to profit with $83.7 million domestically and $148.5 million worldwide thus far against a $75 million budget. The film is now pretty well certain to cross $100 million domestically and could easily cross the $115 million range, with overseas numbers right on course to make it quite profitable.

Joker: Folie à Deux found itself slain by Art the Clown and its own issues, completely collapsing in its second frame. The Todd Phillips-directed sequel brought in just $7.1 million, a jaw-dropping drop of 81% from its already disappointing opening weekend. That is the biggest drop ever for a comic book film and one of the biggest drops for a wide release studio film ever. For perspective, it even surpassed the legendary 80% drop of the Friday the 13th remake in 2009.

Folie à Deux is in full box office bomb mode at this point with just $51.6 million domestically. Overseas is better with $113.7 million for a $165.3 million worldwide total, but even there it is lagging well behind the original film. With a $190 budget plus an expensive marketing campaign, it would need $450 million worldwide to break even, and that isn’t happening. It seems unlikely at this point to reach the $84.5 million domestic total of The Marvels and, if it continues to freefall, could even struggle to break $75 million.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice continued its strong legs as it was down just 30% to $7.1 million in its sixth weekend. That puts the Tim Burton-directed comedy at $275.6 million domestically and $420.3 million worldwide, a massive success against a budget of $100 million. It is looking for a $285 million to $290 million domestic final.

The other new releases all opened quietly, with Piece By Piece leading the also-ran pack at #5. The LEGO-animated Pharrell Williams biopic-ish film took in $3.8 million, a not entirely unexpected result. This film was always going to be a bit of a tough sell based on its unique concept; Williams is obviously a known star but doesn’t have the same level of household status as some other music stars.

The good news for Piece By Piece is two-fold. First off, it has been well-received by critics and fans with an 81% RT critic aggregate score, a 93% RT audience rating and an A CinemaScore. Of course, it’s hard to have legs when you start this low but the other positive factor is a relatively low budget at $16 million. Piece By Piece may make it to the $10 million range if it’s fortunate, putting it in position for profit once it hits digital which was always Focus Features’ plan.

Transformers One had a solid hold in its fourth weekend, adding $3.7 million for a 30% drop. That puts the animated film at $52.9 million domestically and $111.4 million worldwide against a $70 million budget. It’s not going to be profitable by the end of its theatrical run with a likely $58 million to $60 million final US tally, but it will be able to hit those numbers when it arrives on October 22nd.

Sony’s ensemble comedy Saturday Night opened low, bringing in $3.4 million in its wide release opening. The tale of Saturday Night Live’s first broadcast was hoped to do mid-high single digits for the weekend based on positive reception (80% on RT with critics), but it wasn’t able to break through to a wider audience. The film has positive reception among audiences with an 87% RT audience rating and B+ CinemaScore, but it’s going to struggle to find its audience until it reaches home viewing. The film has $4.2 million total against a $25 million budget and will probably finish around $9 million to $10 million in the US.

My Hero Academia the Movie: You’re Next also opened a bit lower than expected, taking in just $3 million. That’s less than half of the $6.2 million that World Heroes’ Mission started to in 2021. Of course, Toho International isn’t worried because domestic gross is the lesser of its revenue streams; it has $19.3 million total worldwide. It will probably be out of the top 10 in short order.

Disney gave The Nightmare Before Christmas a re-released this weekend for the season and added $2.3 million to the film’s grosses. The 1993 Henry Selick stop-motion film has grossed $89.9 million throughout its theatrical runs and $104 million worldwide.

Finally, The Apprentice had no audience in its opening weekend. The Donald Trump biopic from Briarcliff Entertainment stirred up controversy for its portrayal of the former President, which Trump and his campaign were critical of, but despite generally positive reviews at 79% it didn’t score with movie-goers at just $1.6 million. The film has mixed word of mouth with a B- CinemaScore (not great for dramas) but an 86% RT audience rating. It will quickly slip off the charts and probably make its way to home video quickly, but financial success against a $16 million budget may prove elusive.

Next weekend will find a new box office champion in Smile 2, which is targeting around $25 million. Meanwhile, the dark comedy Rumours is flying largely under the radar and could struggle to hit the $2 million range.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Terrifier 3 – $18.3 million ($18.3 million total, $18.3 million WW(
2. The Wild Robot – $13.5 million ($64 million total, $148.5 million WW)
3. Joker: Folie à Deux – $7.1 million ($51.6 million total, $165.3 million WW)
4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – $7.1 million ($275.6 million total, $420.3 million WW)
5. Piece By Piece – $3.8 million ($3.8 million total, $3.8 million WW)
6. Transformers One – $3.7 million ($52.9 million total, $111.4 million WW)
7. Saturday Night – $3.4 million ($4.2 million total, $4.2 million WW)
8. My Hero Academia the Movie: You’re Next – $3 million ($3 million total, $19.3 million WW)
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas – $2.3 million ($89.9 million total, $104 million WW)
10. The Apprentice – $1.6 million ($1.6 million total, $1.6 million WW)