Who the hell saw this coming? In what’s expected to be a David vs. Goliath situation at the weekend box office between indies and a major Hollywood studio, Cineverse’s unrated slasher gory horror movie Terrifier 3 is looking to gross $11M+ this weekend — if not more, completely pushing Warner Bros’ bomb Joker: Folie à Deux out of the top spot.
Here’s the penciling of it all. Disney/Marvel Studios’ fanboy rejection The Marvels free-fell -78% in its second weekend last November, the biggest drop for an MCU title after a lackluster $46.1M opening. And as you know the D CinemaScore rated Joker: Folie à Deux has been pacing behind Marvels (which received a B CinemaScore) in its opening of $37.6M, and mid-week grosses of $1.8M Monday, and $2.6M Tuesday (by comparison, The Marvels did $2.3M and $3.3M over those two days). On the low end, if Joker 2 takes a -70% tumble, that means a $11.2M second weekend, but if it follows Marvels that’s $8M or lower.
After taking U.S. on Terrifier 2 for $250K, Cineverse reaped a ton of cash off its near $11M domestic take with spoils to boot with a spike in streaming subs for its ScreamBox service. A 2,300 theatrical release for Terrifier 3 is planned for this weekend with previews starting at 8PM Thursday. Cineverse invested less than $5M in Terrifier 3, less than $1M of that is marketing. How’s that? They only marketed the movie to their Cineverse universe on streaming services, podcasts and Bloody Disgusting. We’re already hearing about sellouts for shows Thursday into Friday. The question is whether the marketing spend is enough to keep the word of mouth going and bring in more bodies. Iconic Events is handling the distribution of Terrifier 3.
The Damien Leone directed and written slasher pic follows Art the Clown who is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. David Howard Thornton is Art the Clown. Pic also stars Lauren LaVera. Thirty-two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are at 88% for Terrifier 3.
Sony
There’s a slew of wide releases this weekend — but nothing is expected to do double digit million dollar openings. Sony is taking their critically acclaimed (79% certified fresh) film festival darling Saturday Night wide at 2,300 locations for what’s a $3.5M to possible $5M take. The movie’s predominant money has been in LA and NYC. The $30M Jason Reitman directed movie about the behind-the-scenes craziness of Saturday Night Live on the eve of its first telecast has grossed $661K through EOD Monday after a platform release that began on Sept. 27. Previews are at 2 p.m. tomorrow at 2,025 locations.
‘Piece by Piece‘
Focus Features
Focus Features has the Morgan Neville directed documentary, Piece by Piece, about Pharrell Williams told in LEGOs which could see $3M-$5M+ as well at 1,851 sites. The movie cost $16M before P&A. Universal took the world on it. The ultimate comp at the end of the day are documentaries that final in the mid-teens ala RBG with $14M. Pharrell is a big part of the NBCUni universe having hosted The Voice, plus he has his next live-action feature, the Michel Gondry musical feature Atlantis set for May 9, 2025 at big Uni. That movie is based on Williams’ childhood at the Virginia Beach Atlantis Apartments during the summer of 1977. Previews start at 2PM Thursday for Piece by Piece. RT reviews are 91% fresh.
Pief Weyman
There’s also Briarcliff Entertainment’s U.S. acquisition of the Donald Trump biopic, The Apprentice starring Sebastian Stan as the young real estate baron, Jeremy Strong as his notorious mentor as Roy Cohn and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Pic is booked at 1,740 locations and only expected to do in the low single digits after all the headlines for the Ali Abbasi directed movie which included the Trump presidential campaign threatening legal action during the pic’s Cannes Film Festival premiere. Reviews are 79% fresh on RT. Previews start at 4PM tomorrow.