“Halloween Ends” slayed at the Thursday evening box office, raking in $5.4 million on its opening night.
The final film in David Gordon Green and Jamie Lee Curtis’ reboot trilogy debuted at 5 p.m. in 3,200 theaters and will release in 3,901 theaters Friday, day-and-date with its premiere on Peacock.
Independent projections predicted a $50 million opening weekend for the Universal and Blumhouse picture, on par with that of “Halloween Kills.” The 2021 sequel scored $4.9 million at its Thursday box office debut. In 2018, “Halloween” made $7.7 million on its first night and went on to earn an eye-popping $77.5 million from its opening weekend – the second highest of any rated-R horror movie at the time.
Set four years after the events of “Halloween Kills,” “Halloween Ends” presents the last showdown between Laurie Strode (Curtis) and longtime nemesis Michael Myers. Laurie’s efforts to move on with her life shatters when a young man is accused of killing the boy he babysits, setting off a series of violent events that lead to her final confrontation with Myers.
Curtis’ seventh and final appearance comes 44 years after she originated the babysitter-turned-Final Girl in John Carpenter’s “Halloween.”
The film co-stars Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Kyle Richards and James Jude Courtney, all reprising their roles from “Halloween Kills.”
It currently holds a 47% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and an audience score of 60%.
This weekend will also see the limited release of “Till” and “Stars at Noon.” The former stars Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till in a drama about his life and the aftermath of his murder. Directed by Chinonye Chukwu and written by Chukwu, Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp, the film had its world premiere at NYFF on Oct. 1.
“Stars as Noon,” the French romantic thriller from director Claire Denis, opened earlier this year at Cannes, where it tied for the Grand Prix. Margaret Qualley stars as an American journalist trapped in Nicaragua, with Joe Alwyn playing her lover and best chance at escape.
