Halloween Ends has raked in an opening weekend box office gross that is the lowest of the entire reboot trilogy. The Halloween franchise began with John Carpenter's original 1978 classic, which spawned a horde of sequels along with a 2007 remake by Rob Zombie and its own sequel. By the franchise's 40th anniversary, it already comprised ten films. However, that count went even higher when Blumhouse teamed with filmmaker David Gordon Green for a brand-new trilogy. The relaunch began with a new sequel - also titled Halloween - in 2018, erasing everything but the first film from the canon and picking up with Jamie Lee Curtis' final girl Laurie Strode 40 years later. That film was followed by Halloween Kills in 2021, which was set on the same night.
Halloween Ends, which is the third and final film in the trilogy, debuted on October 14. Picking up several years after the events of Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills, it sees Laurie now attempting to move past her trauma, living in Haddonfield with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). The film introduces a new character, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), a young man who is accused of the cold-blooded murder of a child he was babysitting in 2019. The way that Haddonfield's public opinion has poisoned his life interacts meaningfully with the story of both Laurie Strode and Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle), the masked killer who haunts the town. The film also features the return of Will Patton as Deputy Frank Hawkins and Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace.
Per Variety, Halloween Ends took #1 at the box office this weekend with an opening of $41.25 million. This is the best opening weekend for a #1 film since Nope's $44 million opening on July 22, in spite of the fact that Halloween Ends was released simultaneously on the streaming service Peacock. However, in spite of its success, this is still the lowest opening weekend for a film in this reboot trilogy after Halloween Kills' $49.3 million and Halloween 2018's $76.2 million.
What's Next for the Halloween Franchise & Michael Myers
Where the Halloween franchise can go from here is a complicated prospect. Halloween Ends' publicity has somewhat been positioning it as the final film of the entire franchise, though it is simply the end of Blumhouse's current continuity. However, it seems likely that it will take some time for Myers to resurface, especially considering the fact that the film experienced this opening weekend dip. Typically, films advertised as the "final" entry in a franchise get a boost that this particular movie failed to get, possibly because of critics' early Halloween Ends reviews panning the project.
Considering the history of the Halloween franchise, it would be entirely surprising if it stopped cold with Halloween Ends. However, given Jamie Lee Curtis' recent promise to Jimmy Kimmell that she won't return to the franchise as Laurie Strode, the series may well be missing its original final girl from now on. The most likely option going forward is another remake of the original that begins a new continuity, perhaps sometime in the early 2030s so this new trilogy has had time to breathe.
Source: Variety