halloween c TIFF

Source: Blumhouse Productions

‘Halloween’

Venom crossed the $300m threshold via Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI) this week and currently stands at $302.5m – but can it hold off Universal Pictures International’s (UPI) big push for Halloween?

A fourth successive weekend at number one for Sony/Marvel Entertainment’s comic-book adaptation might be a stretch too far even for Tom Hardy’s outrageously elastic anti-hero, given that Venom’s box office is dropping by around 50% each weekend, which puts it in the $16m-20m range in the upcoming Friday-Sunday corridor. On $478m worldwide, Venom should have enough in the tank to cross the half-billion mark by Sunday.

By contrast Halloween from Universal, Blumhouse and Miramax is poised for a major session after last weekend’s initial wave generated $14.3m. UPI has set debuts in a further 40 territories including Australia, France, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, India, Hong Kong, Portugal, Turkey, and Singapore and the odds are in favour of horror supplanting comic-books. 

SPRI’s family sequel Goosebumps 2 on $14.3m should pack a punch this weekend when it enters Australia, France, and Germany, while Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl In The Spider’s Web infiltrates Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.

Crazy Rich Asians has grossed $59.8m through Warner Bros Pictures International outside North America and arrives this weekend in South Korea and Brazil. Bradley Cooper’s Oscar frontrunner A Star Is Born stands at $82.5m and has amassed $215.9m worldwide.

New Line’s horror smash The Nun has amassed $246.3m, while Smallfoot, which this week joined 24 other animated features on the Oscar longlist, stands at a relatively early $77.3m and ventures into Russia. Teen Titans Go! –another name on that Oscar longlist – has reached $22.3m.

Fox International unleashes Bohemian Rhapsody this weekend in the UK. This is the first market to receive the drama about the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, an enduring rock icon played by Rami Malek in a performance that has wowed critics.

The UK also hosts The Hate U Give, the latest of several US dramas this year to tackle the topical subject of police shootings of black people, debuts in the UK and Russia this weekend. Ensemble mystery Bad Times At The El Royale has taken an early $8.6m and ventures into Italy, Indonesia, Belgium, and Singapore.

The Predator has managed $77.5m and debuts in China, while Germany and Austria receive Intrigo: Death Of An Author, the first in a mystery trilogy from The Girl Who Played With Fire and Kidnapping Mr. Heineken director Daniel Alfredson.

Incredibles 2 stands at $624.9m through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International, while Christopher Robin on $92.6m debuts in France.