Weekend Box Office: Joker shimmies back to the top while Terminator: Dark Fate debuts overseas
Aux Features Film
Well, that was quick: After only a week of slumming it in the No. 2 spot, Warner Bros.’ Joker slid right back to the top with a modest $18.9 million domestic gain over the relatively quiet weekend, bringing the total stateside gross to nearly $277.6 million. It is now the top-grossing R-rated film ever, an honor that previously belonged to Deadpool 2. (Ryan Reynolds was sure to extend his warmest congratulations.) Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil’s domestic reign might have been short-lived (though she put up a fight, bringing in $18.5 million), but the sophomore effort appears to be doing much better internationally, besting its clownish rival’s $47.8 million offshore weekend gross with its own $64.3 million.
The rest of the top five is occupied by an appropriately on-theme slate of films fit for any Halloween crowd. Third-place belonged to The Addams Family, thanks to an additional $11.7 million. Following in fourth is Sony Pictures’ long-gestating sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, bringing in $11.6 million domestically and raising the two-week total to $47 million. In fifth-place, STX Entertainment’s newest horror entry Countdown, a tale about an app that lets users know exactly when they’re going to die, topped this past weekend’s premieres with $9 million. Small potatoes as that may sound, with a humble $6.5 million budget, it’s already netting a profit from those who have never been sufficiently spooked by a fitness tracking app before. Screen Gem’s Black & Blue, which our own Ignatiy Vishnevetsky deemed “generic” in his review, followed Countdown with an $8.3 million debut.
Terminator: Dark Fate debuted on a number of overseas screens, drumming up a $12.8 million—a less-than-stellar start for such a legacy franchise. Per Deadline, the sequel is targeting a $40 million domestic debut, though those projections are from earlier in the month. Its competition this Friday includes the Cynthia Erivo-starring biopic Harriet and some animated counterprogramming by way of Arctic Dogs, starring the voice of total sweetheart Jeremy Renner. While upsets can certainly happen, we’re sure Sarah Connor and friends will fare just fine.
For more in-depth box office analysis, check out Box Office Mojo.
26 Comments
“Total sweetheart alleged domestic abuser Jeremy Renner.”
Judging from the link, I think it’s safe to say that the “total sweetheart” was meant with a huge helping of irony.
Didn’t notice the link. Sorry Shannon.
The Lighthouse coming in at #8 is kind of amazing. A big budget Guy Maddin film making the top ten is remarkable.
“Terminator: Dark Fate debuted on a number of overseas screens, drumming up a $12.8 million—a less-than-stellar start for such a legacy franchise.”Yeah, my theater was really empty for an opening night of a blockbuster franchise. Don’t see this going anywhere.
What would happen if they tried being a critic’s darling? Like an alternate take instead of every single Terminator movie being so damn ambitious? Sarah Connor Chronicles Genisys were the more interesting entries. I know everyone hated Genisys but the TV show was good.
given that the legacy has been mostly bad since at least 1991 and there have been more bad terminators than good ones at this point, that legacy likely isn’t as helpful as it otherwise might be
Everyone should go see the Joker twice just to piss off the SJWs. As for
Terminator, no one wants a spic Terminator and a female Kyle Resse.
Also, seeing old Arnold and Sarah makes me sad. So many good stories to tell and they rehash stopping Judgement Day which never works. This is going to tank harder than SJW Matrix 4.
Maybe check you math?Good: The Terminator, T2, T3, The Sarah Connor ChroniclesBad: Salvation, Genisys
T3 was- at the most generous- mediocre and SCC was very uneven (not its fault, production was obviously deeply troubled)
T3 does not belong in the good category.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles had such potential, and a few good storylines and actors (Lena Headey FFS!), but the second season just didn’t know where the fuck it was going.
With the caveat that this is all subjective, different strokes for different folks, yada yada yada:‘Terminator 3′ was fucking awful.
Correct.Only movie I’ve seen in which a helicopter crashes and explodes, a helicopter crashes into the first helicopter and explodes, then both helicopters explode again.
T3 had a beautifully bleak and haunting ending. Everything else is eeeehhhhhhhhh not very good. Not unwatchable, just painfully generic and bad and not good.
Everyone should go see the Joker twice just to piss off the SJWs. As for Terminator, no one wants a spic Terminator and a female Kyle Resse. Also, seeing old Arnold and Sarah makes me sad. So many good stories to tell and they rehash stopping Judgement Day which never works. This is going to tank harder than SJW Matrix 4.
Joker going to clear 900 million dollars and didn’t even release in China. This movie was arguably more financially successful than Captain Marvel. The ‘controversy’ surrounding this movie is hilarious now.
I’m happy the movie is making a lot of money, but a lot of that controversy was drummed up by the studio to make more money.
I can’t say you’re wrong. But even the sister site of AV club did a segment Joaquin Pheonix’s “botched interview.” It seemed like mostly the more liberal sites fueled that fire.
Saw Double Tap this weekend, what a pleasure to see an entertaining film with likeable actors minus the political agenda or the anti-men b.s. I hope Terminator fails miserably.
Actuals have been released, and both movies ended up coming in above estimates and Maleficent barely edged out Joker to retain number 1.
Terminator: Dark Fate debuted on a number of overseas screens, drumming up a $12.8 million—a less-than-stellar start for such a legacy franchise.A film with poor legacy, a dreck ad campaign, and from the reaction the only goodwill being “not quite as bad as Genisys” when I will argue within two years the rose-tinting will come off and they’ll realise that at least Genisys tried some new ideas and wasn’t just a CGI powered generic film that was about as far from the first two films as you could get that this one was.
Genisys didn’t try that many new ideas though. Most of them were already done in TSCC.
Older Arnie, a version of John whose war weariness sees them turn against humanity.
‘Terminator’ is, to me, the paragon of a franchise that should have been just one movie. Yes, ‘T2′ is a great movie, both genuinely scary and a great action flick, but it was the film that turned Terminator into a franchise and undid some of the cool “closed loop” time travel stuff of the first one. My ideal alternate universe would have the first film as a standalone and ‘T2′ as a separate movie that somehow did a lot of the same things as it does.
I’m pretty against Dark Fate because I simply don’t care anymore. I don’t care that James Cameron is back because the mere fact he wants to further destroy the first two movies just adds his new movie to the pile of useless Terminator movies. What is the point anymore? If judgment day can never be stopped, if something like Skynet will always happen, then what is the point? Oh look a new liquid terminator! Oh look Arnie is back again! Oh look they digitally de-aged Arnie. Oh look yet another retcon to the end of 2. What is the point? Who is this mythical audience that demands more terminator movies?