Halloween Ends' box office projections see the upcoming trilogy-closer barely topping Halloween Kills domestically in its opening weekend. After John Carpenter's 1978 original became a massive hit, the Halloween franchise has become one of the most beloved horror movie properties of all time. After numerous sequels, which achieved varying levels of success, filmmaker David Gordon Green teamed with Blumhouse to reboot the franchise in 2018 with Halloween. The film was a hit critically and commercially, breathing new life into the franchise after a series of misfires. A sequel, Halloween Kills, was released in 2021, earning mixed reviews but setting the stage for Green's climactic entry in his new trilogy.
The aptly-titled Halloween Ends is expected to bring the story of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) to a close, after her introduction over 40 years ago. Trailers for the upcoming film tease that Laurie's final battle with Michael Myers will be a primary focus in Halloween Ends, with a particularly brutal kitchen fight between the two characters featuring heavily in promotional material. The movie takes place 4 years after the traumatic events of Halloween Kills, which sees Myers brutally kill Karen (Judy Greer), Laurie's daughter. Like its predecessor, Halloween Ends will release in theaters and Peacock simultaneously.
Per a new report from Deadline, Halloween Ends is projected to earn $50 million in its domestic opening weekend, putting it just barely ahead of Halloween Kills' $49 million. While some optimistic projections put the film at close to $60 million, the number will still fall short of the domestic opening weekend box office gross for 2018's Halloween, which hit an impressive $76 million. Overall, though, Halloween Ends' projected performance will enliven an otherwise slow period for the domestic box office, with all films currently in theaters averaging $55 total each weekend over the last 3 weeks.
Why Halloween Ends' Box Office Won't Beat The 2018 Reboot
Although Halloween Ends' projected opening weekend box office performance is impressive, the movie will almost certainly fail to match 2018's Halloween. Not only was there a great deal of excitement over the prospect of a rebooted Halloween, almost 10 years after Rob Zombie's disappointing Halloween II, but the theatrical landscape was very different in 2018. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 saw theaters shuttered in many areas for months on end and, while most theaters are now back up and running, movie-goers' behaviors are now very different, with many being pickier about which films are worth going to cinemas for.
Not only that, but Halloween Ends' day-and-date release strategy, which sees the film released in theaters and on streaming simultaneously, will also affect its box office potential. As with Halloween Kills, this strategy allows those who don't want to make the trip to theaters to still experience the film early from the comfort of their own homes, but it will also eat into Halloween Ends' box office performance. Even without the day-and-date release strategy, Halloween Ends would have been very unlikely to surpass the 2018 reboot, but opening with $50 million domestically (or more) will still be a very impressive feat for the franchise and an improvement over its predecessor.
Source: Deadline
