Despite being slapped with a rare under-18s ban in France, Damien Leone’s horror film Terrifier 3 has not scared moviegoers away, selling 244,000 tickets (€1.75m based on an average ticket price of €7.20) during its opening weekend.
The figures, based on ticket sales from October 9-13, have already far surpassed Terrifier 2’s total of 71,000 tickets (€511,000) over its five-week run in cinemas in late 2023.
The film, about homicidal Art the Clown who goes on the rampage during the Christmas holidays, sparked a backlash from distributors Factoris Films, Shadowz Films and ESC Editions last week when France’s film classification committee announced the film would be banned for audiences under age 18.
It marked the first ruling of its kind for a horror film since Saw III in 2006. The distributors appealed the decision hoping for the same under-16s ratings ban as the previous films in the franchise, but were denied, and the film hit cinemas on October 9 as planned, opening to 45,000 admissions on day one.
Terrifier 3 was released on an initial 120 screens, but ESC Editions’ Victor Lamoussiere said the company received calls from more cinemas the following day requesting to book the film, which will expand into 250 screens this week.
The low-budget slasher opened just behind Wild Robot which scored 364,352 admissions over the weekend, but on 673 screens compared to just 154 screens for Terrifier 3.
Terrifier 3 opened unrated on October 11 in North America (Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting in association with Iconic Events Releasing) to an estimated $18.3m and in the UK (Signature) to £1m for an international opening weekend total of around $23m.
French ratings system
Discussing the strict ratings decision, Lamoussiere said, “Distributors continue to believe that it’s undesirable to restrict access to horror films” but added: “Nevertheless, we have to admit that this has contributed to the film’s explosive start in France.”
Saw 3 managed to sell 771,902 tickets during its 2006 run for Metropolitan Film Export even with the strict rating in place.
The under-18s ratings ban caused a stir since it is traditionally reserved for films with more sexually explicit scenes, such as Gaspard Noé’s Love in 2015, Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac – Volume 2 in 2014 and Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs in 2005.
Under France’s current ratings system, overseen by its Ministry of Culture, films can be rated: Tous Publics (TP) which means suitable for all audiences and equivalent to the MPA’s G or PG rating, or be prohibited for viewing by certain age categories including 12 years (equivalent to a PG-13 rating), 16 (equivalent to an R rating) or – in rare cases – 18 (comparable to an NC-17 rating).
Within the under-16s and 18s ban, films can also come with a ‘warning’ (‘avec avertissement’) which means that, in addition to its rating, cinemas are required to have someone enter the theatre and tell the audience that the film has been given the rating because of its violent or sexual nature.
In the under-18s category, a film can be labelled “pornographic or inciting to violence” and can only be shown in specific cinemas.
Michael Haneke’s Funny Games came with the warning: “This film’s unflinching depiction of anguish and suffering may leave viewers in an unbearable position.”
Gaspard Noé’s 2002 title Irreversible came with an under-16s warning about depictions of rape: “Two very harsh scenes may offend the sensibilities of some viewers.”
Smile 2 currently has an under-16s ratings ban with no warning.
No comments yet