Game Of Box Offices: “Venom” won’t let go of the top spot, “First Man” not quite first

“Venom” hangs onto the crown for a second weekend, earning $35 million, while “A Star Is Born” stays close behind with $28.4 million. Put money on the fact that “A Star Is Born” will be sticking around at the box office much longer than “Venom,” as it will definitely be a strong Oscars season contender while “Venom” will be lucky to hang on as long as it does. Another Oscar contender hit theaters this weekend, with the Damien Chazelle / Ryan Gosling film “First Man,” which took third  place with $16 million. That, too, should hang around longer than normal. “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween” plays to the younger Halloween crowd with $15.8 million and a fourth place finish, with “Smallfoot” once again topping “Night School” and staying in the Top Five with $9 million. “Bad Times At The El Royale” landed at Number 7 in its opening weekend, with $7.1 million. It remains to be seen if that has any staying power. In its second weekend, “The Hate U Give” climbed four spots to land in the Top Ten with $1.7 million and the Highest Percentage Increase within the List with +239.2%. “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” opened with a decent $1.1 million and a Number 12 finish, despite having done very little marketing. And the Steve Carell / Timothee Chalamet feature “Beautiful Boy” made the List, playing in only four theaters, taking home the Per Theater Average win overall this weekend, with an average of $54,722 per screen.

Falling hard this week was “The Predator,” which earned itself a BOMB in its fifth week, falling from the Top Ten to Number 21 and looking  for an end to its List run by as early as next weekend. “Shine,” which narrowly missed the List last week had the biggest drop outside the List, with -96.9% while the -77.3% of “The Predator” gave it the losers crown within the List. Dropping off completely was “White Boy Rick,” which sees its Oscar hope dwindling as no one’s showing up. “The Meg,” “Christopher Robin,” and “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” ended their impressive runs in their 10th, 11th, and 12th weeks respectively. “Searching” closed out a nice eight week run while “Fahrenheit 11/9,” Michael Moore’s latest documentary, closed out a positive run after only a month. Taking bigger than normal drops were “A Simple Favor,” which got beat out by “The Nun” in a very close battle. “Crazy Rich Asians” begins its descent down the List after a phenomenal $171 million domestic total on a $30 production budget. In only its third week, “Hell Fest” came two spots shy of a BOMB while “Peppermint” was only one spot away from the same fate. Both of these films will struggle to hold on in the coming weeks. Finally crashing the List, on the heels of the announcement that Annapurna might be closing up shop, “The Sisters Brothers” took a nine spot leap and landed at Number 19. After surprising last weekend, “Andhadhun” moved up the list and after falling off last weekend, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation,” despite being on home video, cracked the List again as well.

David Gordon Green’s “Halloween” will have zero competition next weekend, taking the top spot with a projection of $65 million. Nothing will be able to touch it the following weekend either, with its closest competition being three weekends out with “Bohemian Rhapsody” looking for a $35 million opening on November 2nd. I predict that next week, “A Star Is Born” will surpass “Venom” for the first time. “Halloween” should offer direct competition against “Venom,” which surprised at that high of an intake to start with. “First Man” should be sticking around the Top Five for awhile with the Oscar hopes and the word of mouth. Other newcomers, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” “Wildlife,” and “Mid90s” have a small chance of landing on the List as well. “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” and “The Predator” are poised to fall off the List. I also don’t think “Andhadhun” can hang on the List for much longer.

Box Office King: “Venom”
Box Office Queen: “A Star Is Born” (2018)
Per Theater Average Winner: “Beautiful Boy”
Per Theater Average Winner (in 25LIST): “Beautiful Boy”
Highest Percentage Increase: “The Third Murder”
Highest Percentage Increase (in 25LIST): “The Hate U Give”

#	Title	Weekend	Total	Budget	Week	LW	CH
1	Venom (Sony)	$35,006,107	($142,108,258)	$100m	2nd	#1
2	A Star Is Born (WB)	$28,445,205	($94,605,565)	$36m	2nd	#2
3	First Man (Uni)	$16,006,065	($16,006,065)	$59m	1st	N
4	Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (Sony)	$15,802,225	($15,802,225)	$35m	1st	N
5	Smallfoot (WB)	$9,066,837	($57,375,058)	$80m*	3rd	#3
6	Night School (Uni)	$7,751,255	($59,560,205)	$29m	3rd	#4
7	Bad Times At The El Royale (Fox)	$7,132,647	($7,132,647)	$32m	1st	N
8	The House With A Clock In Its Walls (Uni)	$3,844,240	($62,119,740)	$42m	4th	#5
9	The Hate U Give (Fox)	$1,736,842	($2,449,156)	**	2nd	#13
10	The Nun (WB)	$1,345,355	($115,900,401)	$22m	6th	#7
11	A Simple Favor (LGF)	$1,329,701	($51,987,209)	$20m*	5th	#6
12	Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer (GVN)	$1,162,988	($1,162,988)	**	1st	N
13	Crazy Rich Asians (WB)	$1,037,228	($171,326,596)	$30m	9th	#8
14	Colette (BST)	$999,713	($2,552,165)	**	4th	#14
15	The Old Man & the Gun	$917,679	($1,702,603)	**	3rd	#18
16	Free Solo (NGE)	$890,760	($2,175,401)	**	3rd	#12
17	Hell Fest (LGF)	$640,551	($10,451,231)	$5.5m	3rd	#9
18	Andhadhun (Eros)	$282,628	($719,471)	$3.4m*	2nd	#23
19	The Sisters Brothers (AP)	$263,803	($1,076,287)	$38m*	4th	#28
20	Beautiful Boy (2018) (Amazon)	$218,888	($218,888)	$25m*	1st	N
21	The Predator (Fox)	$215,450	($50,705,371)	$88m	5th	#10
22	Incredibles 2 (BV)	$211,902	($607,474,495)	$200m*	18th	#21
23	The Wife (SPC)	$206,498	($7,232,603)	**	9th	#19
24	Peppermint (STX)	$187,195	($35,165,567)	$25m	6th	#15
25	Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Sony)	$186,312	($167,031,784)	$80m	14th	#26

***ALL DOMESTIC NUMBERS FROM BOX OFFICE MOJO***

OFF THE CHARTS THIS WEEK

(OFFICIALLY CLOSED)