Rather than remake Halloween again like Rob Zombie did last decade, the new Halloween movie, the 11th installment in the same-named film franchise, instead decided to tie directly to the movie that kicked all this off and ignore everything else that followed afterwards. We're now only a few weeks from seeing Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode clash with Michael Myers again on the big screen, and since October is often a quieter month in the movie realm, Halloween will certainly be one of the more high-profile theatrical offerings. As far as commercial performance goes, it's currently estimated that Halloween will pull somewhere between $50-$85 million opening weekend.
Halloween is definitely the biggest movie opening on October 19, with its competition including Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Serenity and Mid90s. Along with fan interest and a strong advertising campaign, according to Box Office Pro, Halloween is also outpacing fellow horror movies like A Quiet Place and Split on Twitter, largely due to positive reactions to the first trailer. So a $50-$85 million haul opening weekend is quite impressive, especially when you take into account that Halloween's budget was only $10 million. Granted, fellow cinematic "revivals" like Blade Runner 2049 and Alien: Covenant failed to make huge impressions at the box office, but if these estimates prove accurate, Halloween will avoid such a fate and get its theatrical run off to a strong start. Halloween getting early positive reception following its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival definitely doesn't hurt either.
Obviously there's a chance that Halloween's opening weekend doesn't meet the current expectations, but it's also worth considering that the $50-$85 million range might be on the low side. Remember that around this time last year, Warner Bros released IT, the first theatrical adaptation of Stephen King's same-named 1986 novel. Made off a $35 million budget, IT ended up pulling in over $123 million on its opening weekend, and its final worldwide total was over $700 million. Whether Halloween being the latest installment in a long-running film franchise equates to the importance of a Stephen King property getting the cinematic treatment will draw differing opinions, but let's not rule out that this movie might exceed expectations.
Taking place 40 years after the original Halloween movie, the new Halloween will see Laurie Strode and the escaped Michael Myers have one last confrontation on the same holiday where they first crossed paths. The supporting cast includes Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner, Toby Huss and Jefferson Hall and Rhian Rees, as well as Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney sharing duties performing Michael Myers, a.k.a. The Shape.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more coverage concerning Halloween as we count down the days until its release. You can also look through our 2018 release schedule to find out when this year's other remaining movies are coming out.
