Halloween Ends has experienced a significant drop during its second weekend at the domestic box office. The film is the third entry in Blumhouse's Halloween trilogy, which began with the 2018 release Halloween, a direct sequel to the classic 1978 slasher of the same name that ignores the continuity of the nine sequels and remakes that followed it. 2021's Halloween Kills took place on the same night, and the new film Halloween Ends picks up with the surviving characters - including Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode - several years later.

The October 14 opening weekend for Halloween Ends was far from perfect, but also not entirely alarming for box office pundits. The film took in an opening weekend of $41.25 million, which was the lowest of the reboot trilogy by a slight margin (Halloween 2018 made $76.2 million and Halloween Kills made $49.3 million). However, it was the best-performing 2022 theatrical film in quite some time, earning the best opening weekend for a #1 film since Jordan Peele's alien thriller Nope came out in July.

Related: Halloween Ends' Story Isn't What Kills Set Up: Did The Plan Change?

Per Variety, Halloween Ends is projected to take a tumble of about 80%, potentially even more, in its second weekend at the domestic box office. This is the worst week 2 drop of the week 2 trilogy, compared to Halloween Kills' drop of 71% and Halloween 2018's 58% drop. While horror films are likely to experience a significant drop after their opening weekend, the same doesn't seem to be the case with Ends' theatrical competition Smile, which opened on September 30 and only dropped 22% in week 2, continuing to slowly float down the chart with similarly slim margins as it enters its fourth week.

Why is Halloween Ends Performing So Poorly?

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There are several factors that are likely contributing to Halloween Ends' poor box office performance. The first is the fact that the film was released on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock on the same day as its theatrical premiere. While that same release strategy didn't seem to hamper Halloween Ends considerably, Halloween Ends has also been receiving strong negative reactions from many fans of the franchise, which is likely either driving stragglers away from seeing the film at all or causing them to reconsider making it a point to see it in theaters.

One sticking point for many of Halloween Ends' detractors is its lack of focus on Michael Myers. Instead the film focused on the fomenting of hate in the town of Haddonfield and how it affects the life of a tortured young man named Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell). Those who wanted this supposedly final entry to feature a more focused face-off between Michael and Laurie were heartily disappointed, which has likely led to this severe drop-off in interest for the film.

Source: Variety

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