This year has seen its fair share of rough months at the box office, but October 2022 has definitely produced some positive narratives – and it's coming to an end on what could relatively be called a high note. As expected, the superhero blockbuster that is Jaume Collet-Serra's Black Adam is at the top of the domestic charts again, crossing some key milestones in the process, but what's also nice to see is a whole lot of horror movies turning into hits as people everywhere prepare to celebrate Halloween.
Check out the full Top 10 for this past weekend below, and join me after for analysis!
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Black Adam | $27,700,000 | $111,138,667 | 1 | 4,402 |
| 2. Ticket To Paradise | $10,000,000 | $33,731,570 | 2 | 3,543 |
| 3. Prey For The Devil* | $7,025,000 | $7,025,000 | Row 2 - Cell 3 | 3,296 |
| 4. Smile | $5,050,000 | $92,387,230 | 3 | 3,901 |
| 5. Halloween Ends | $3,830,000 | $60,323,710 | 4 | 3,536 |
| 6. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile | $2,825,000 | $32,560,233 | 5 | 1,858 |
| 7. Till | $2,810,827 | $3,637,474 | 13 | 755 |
| 8. Terrifier 2 | $1,803,750 | $7,638,050 | 7 | 1,306 |
| 9. The Woman King | $1,110,000 | $64,584,240 | 6 | 1,750 |
| 10. TÁR | $1,020,000 | $2,487,823 | 12 | 280 |
Black Adam Crosses $250 Million Globally And Holds The #1 Spot
As I've regularly noted in my time writing this column, the average movie drops somewhere between 40 and 60 percent weekend-to-weekend when it comes to ticket sales during a second Friday-to-Sunday run – and Black Adam has unfortunately found itself on the worse end of that spectrum. After earning $67 million in its first three days, the DC Comics film only made about $27.7 million in the last few days, which equates to a 59 percent fall. That's not great all by itself, but the positive news to spin out of the situation are the nine-figure totals that the release is now showing both domestically and globally.
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Black Adam was an expensive movie to make, sporting a $195 million production budget (per Variety), and with development, marketing and publicity costs to also account for, the film's domestic legs don't inspire a great deal of confidence. Fortunately, the $111.1 million that the release has earned at home is bolstered by higher quality performance overseas. According to The Numbers, 55 percent of profits are coming from foreign markets thus far, and they raise the film's worldwide total to $250.1 million.
That's still not a number that is going to let the production be called an overwhelming success... but pretty good by 2022 standards.
As anyone could have predicted based on the basic audience hunger for superhero blockbusters, Black Adam is already starting to climb the domestic and international charts. It may not seem like all that much, but $111.1 million is enough to already make it the twelfth biggest title to hit theaters in 2022 (in front of Aaron and Adam Nee's The Lost City, which made $105.3 million this spring). With the aforementioned $250.1 million globally, the film is in fifteenth place having surpassed the $249.6 million earned by Pierre Perifel's The Bad Guys.
Black Adam needs to count its wins while its getting them, as the "good times" may not be rolling for much longer. Its biggest competition arriving on Friday will be James Gray's award season drama Armageddon Time and the Gorō Taniguchi's One Piece Film: Red, and while the DC movie may be able to top the box office again, it definitely won't do so in its fourth weekend. Ryan Coogler's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is coming, and it's effectively going to take all eyes off of Dwayne Johnson's new movie.
Prey For The Devil, Smile, Halloween Ends, And Terrifier 2 Prove To Be Appreciated Holiday Treats
Black Adam notably didn't face off any new, big blockbuster release this past weekend, but it did find some competition from the horror genre – which clearly has been getting a boost from Halloween. The holiday isn't until tomorrow, but scary movies are all over the Top 10, starting with Daniel Stamm's Prey For The Devil.
The new exorcism movie didn't get much of a publicity push from Lionsgate, and critical reception hasn't been particularly kind (it's rocking a 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), but it earned enough curiosity as the new horror title being released right before Halloween that it managed to make about $7 million in its first three days. The budget on the production hasn't been reported, but the money made is probably enough enough to put the project in the black – which will be celebrated given that everybody will very likely forget about this film's existence with the arrival of November.
Parker Finn's Smile, meanwhile, continues to be the big story of October at the box office. Unlike Black Adam, the movie's weekend-to-weekend drops have been shockingly small, and while it's numbers are starting to fall a bit more now (down 40 percent from its last Friday-to-Sunday), the success is undeniable. Holding on to fourth place, the $5.1 million it made these last few days brings its domestic total to $92.4 million, which means it ranks in the Top 20 of 2022 releases.
On more of a bummer note, David Gordon Green's Halloween Ends continues to be handcuffed by the chosen hybrid release model that sees the movie currently available on Peacock... but at least the bleeding has slowed a bit. After plummeting 80 percent in its second weekend, the trilogy capper only fell 52 percent weekend-to-weekend and added $3.8 million to its earnings. It's made $60.3 million at home to date, which is enough to make it deemed profitable due to the movie's low budget, but it's sad when compared to the $92 million made by its predecessor, Green's Halloween Kills.
Finally there's Damien Leone's Terrifier 2. The new film has become a bit notorious due to the fact that it reportedly has people fainting and vomiting in theaters, and its reputation has led to big box office results. When it first opened on October 7, it played in 886 theaters and made $805,000 – which wasn't too shabby for a movie made for only $250,000 (per Variety). Three weeks later, it's now playing in 1,550 locations, has risen to seventh place in the Top 10, and has made $7.6 million to date. That's remarkable.
So what will the box office landscape look like once we start moving away from spooky season? We'll find out next weekend, and you'll be able to find my box office analysis here on CinemaBlend.
For a full look ahead at all of the films on the way in what remains of the year, check out our 2022 Movie Release Calendar.
