'Halloween Kills' Smashes Box Office Expectations With $50.4 Million USD Opening

Universal Pictures‘ Halloween Kills — the latest drop-off in the long-standing franchise — raked in approximately $50.4 million USD at the North American box office during its opening weekend.

The figure largely exceeds expectations, which previously forecasted that the film would make $35 million USD to $40 million USD over the weekend. The movie also launched on Peacock on Friday, marking the largest start for a film premiering simultaneously in theaters and on a streaming service. Peacock did not share any viewership numbers for the movie.

“We obviously had a very enthusiastic audience that was extremely eager to get out to theaters,” Universal’s domestic distribution chief Jim Orr told The Hollywood Reporter. “A film like Halloween Kills is going to be best experienced in theaters, where the person next to you is gasping, and another is screaming. It makes it just that much more of a true experience.”

Halloween Kills sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis in her role as Laurie Strode, who again finds herself haunted with horror, alongside her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichaki). The David Gordon Green-directed movie, which also stars Nick Castle, Kyle Richards, Charles Cyphers, Will Patton, Thomas Mann and Anthony Michael Hall, is the sequel to the 2018 reboot of the 1978 classic, Halloween, and arrives as the 12th installment in the slasher franchise.

In case you missed it, watch the trailer for Halloween Kills.