Worldwide box office October 27-29
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | 3-day (int’l) | Territories |
| 1. | Five Nights At Freddy’s (Universal) | $130.6m | $130.6m | $52.6m | $52.6m | 64 |
| 2. | Killers Of The Flower Moon (Paramount) | $24.2m | $88.1m | $15.2m | $47.4m | 66 |
| 3. | Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (various) | $21.4m | $203.0m | $6.7m | $53.7m | 96 |
| 4. | Trolls Band Together (Universal) | $13.4m | $36.1m | $13.4m | $36.1m | 43 |
| 5. | Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie (Paramount) | $11.9m | $166.4m | $9.7m | $107.2m | 68 |
| 6. | Only The River Flows (various) | $9.2m | $21.7m | $9.2m | $21.7m | 1 |
| 7. | Exorcist: The Believer (Universal) | $7.3m | $120.4m | $4.2m | $61.0m | 81 |
| 8. | Saw X (Lionsgate) | $6.2m | $91.6m | $4.5m | $41.3m | 49 |
| 9. | The Boy And The Heron (various) | $6.0m | $71.5m | $6.0m | $71.5m | 5 |
| 10. | Who’s The Suspect (various) | $5.5m | $5.5m | $5.5m | $5.5m | 1 |
Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.
‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ shrugs off negative reviews with stellar opening
Will 2023 go down in history as the year that Hollywood’s film and television industries finally proved itself able to exploit videogame properties on a consistently successful basis? Following HBO acclaimed series The Last Of Us in January and Illumination/Nintendo’s box office smash The Super Mario Bros. Movie in April, Blumhouse/Universal’s Five Nights At Freddy’s has landed in cinemas worldwide, exceeding expectations with estimated takings of $130.6m.
The adaptation of the tween-skewing Scott Cawthon videogame franchise debuted with an estimated $78.0m in North America, topping the domestic box office, plus an estimated $52.6m for 64 international markets. Those numbers make Five Nights At Freddy’s the biggest global opening for Blumhouse of all time, beating 2018’s Halloween ($91.8m), and also the biggest horror opening of 2023, ahead of The Nun II ($88.1m).
For international, top market was Mexico, with an estimated $10.8m, and a 65% market share. Next comes UK/Ireland with a five-day estimated $6.3m – the top horror opening of the pandemic era, and the third-biggest horror debut ever, behind only It and It: Chapter 2 (including previews).
Australia likewise delivered the biggest post-pandemic horror opening, with an estimated $3.8m. The number was right behind Brazil, with an estimated $3.9m – the biggest ever Blumhouse opening in that market.
Germany opened with an estimated $2.6m, while mid-sized markets Poland, Argentina and Chile all punched above their weight, opening respectively with estimates of $2.0m, $2.4m and $1.9m. In Chile, that’s the biggest ever horror opening. Peru, with an estimated $1.7m, is likewise the biggest ever horror opening.
Directed by Emma Tammi (2018’s The Wind), Five Nights At Freddy’s stars Josh Hutcherson as a security guard who accepts a night-time job guarding a long-shuttered pizza restaurant/family entertainment centre, where he discovers the animal-themed animatronic mascots come to life at night.
Professional critics’ reviews are mostly negative, but the film achieved a CinemaScore of A- in North America exit polling. Crucially for Universal, the film achieved a family-friendly PG-13 rating in North America, whereas most horror films are rated R.
Several key markets have yet to open Five Nights At Freddy’s, which lands this week in Spain on Wednesday (November 1) and Italy on Thursday. Next week sees it reach France (November 8), with South Korea a week later (November 15) and Japan to follow next February.
In addition to The Super Mario Bros. Movie and now Five Nights At Freddy’s, Columbia Pictures/PlayStation Productions’ Gran Turismo also landed in cinemas this year – albeit a biographical drama rather than a straight adaptation of game-playing content. The Super Mario Bros. Movie has grossed $1.36bn worldwide. Gran Turismo reached $119.3m.
‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ buoyed by international hold
Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon fell hard at the North America box office, dropping 61% in its second session, with estimated takings of $9.0m – bringing the domestic total to $40.7m for Paramount Pictures.
The film’s fortunes are boosted by a much stronger international result – down 36% in holdover markets, with an estimated $14.1m for the weekend period, and $44.0m so far.
Top international market is UK/Ireland, with $6.8m after two weekends of play, ahead of France ($5.3m), Germany ($3.6m), Spain ($2.9m) and Australia ($2.7m).
With $88.1m so far, the Apple Studios production has already far exceeded the last Scorsese film where box office was reported – Silence grossed $23.8m worldwide in 2016. (Netflix did not report box office numbers on 2019’s The Irishman.)
However, Killers Of The Flower Moon has a long way to go to match the worldwide numbers on top Scorsese hits The Wolf Of Wall Street ($406.9m, 2013), Shutter Island ($294.8m, 2010) and The Departed ($291.5m, 2006).
Also for Paramount, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie benefited from school holidays in many territories – the film added another estimated $11.9m for the weekend, and $18.0m for the past seven days. Worldwide total now stands at $166.4m – which compares with $144.3m lifetime for 2021’s Paw Patrol: The Movie.
‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ passes $200m milestone
After a 67% drop for its second weekend of play in both North America and international markets, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour has arrested the pace of decline in the third session.
In North America, the concert film delivered an estimated $9.0m for the weekend – down 61%. For international, the weekend number is $6.7m – down 36%.
Totals so far are $139.3m in North America and $53.7m for international, combining for $203.0m. That number still lags behind the lifetime box office of the biggest ever concert film, Michael Jackson’s This Is It, with $261.2m in 2009.
‘Trolls Band Together’ expands to new markets – hits $36m
DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls Band Together is continuing its international rollout via Universal Pictures International, ahead of the domestic release on November 17. The third Trolls film landed in 17 new markets at the weekend, taking the territory total to 43 so far. Weekend box office was an estimated $13.4m, and the total is $36.1m.
Top new opener was Mexico, with an estimated $1.5m, ahead of Spain with $1.2m. Among holdovers, UK/Ireland (where the school holiday wrapped up for most regions at the weekend) impressed with another estimated $3.0m, down just 22%, taking the total to $10.8m – 30% of the international number to date.
Among other holdover markets, France has reached $5.3m and Germany $3.1m.
For comparison, second film in the series Trolls World Tour (2020) saw its rollout impacted by the Covid pandemic, landing on premium video-on-demand in many territories, and grossing just $49.3m in cinemas. The original Trolls grossed $347.2m worldwide in 2016.
Trolls Band Together will land in Italy on November 9, Australia on November 30 and South Korea on December 20.
No comments yet