Folie a Deux’ At Box Office

Who the hell saw this coming? In what’s expected to be a David-vs.-Goliath situation at the weekend box office between indies and a major Hollywood studio, Cineverse’s unrated gory slasher horror movie Terrifier 3 is looking to gross $11 million+ this weekend if not more, completely pushing Warner Bros’ bomb Joker: Folie à Deux out of the top spot.

Here’s the penciling of it all. Disney/Marvel’s fanboy rejection The Marvels free-fell 78% in its second weekend last November, the biggest drop for an MCU title, after a lackluster $46.1M opening. And as you know Joker: Folie à Deux and its D CinemaScore has been pacing behind Marvels (which received a B CinemaScore) in its opening of $37.6M, and mid-week grosses of $1.8M Monday, and $2.6M Tuesday (by comparison, The Marvels did $2.3M and $3.3M over those two days, respectively).

On the low end, if Joker 2 takes a 70% tumble, that means a $11.2M second weekend, but if it follows Marvels, it would be $8M or lower.

After taking U.S. on 2022’s Terrifier 2 for $250,000, Cineverse reaped a ton of cash off its near $11M domestic take with spoils to boot including a spike in streaming subs for its ScreamBox service. A 2,300-screen theatrical release for Terrifier 3 is planned for this weekend, with previews starting at 8 p.m. Thursday. Cineverse invested less than $5M in Terrifier 3, with less than $1M of that in marketing. How’s that? It only marketed the movie to its Cineverse universe on streaming services, podcasts and Bloody Disgusting.

We’re already hearing about sellouts for shows Thursday into Friday. The question is whether the marketing spend is enough to keep the word of mouth going and bring in more bodies. Iconic Events is handling the distribution of Terrifier 3.

The slasher pic written and directed by Damien Leone follows Art the Clown, who is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. David Howard Thornton plays Art the Clown, and Lauren LaVera also stars. Thirty-two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are at 88% for Terrifier 3.

There are a slew of wide releases this weekend, though nothing is expected to do double-digit million-dollar openings. Sony is taking their critically acclaimed (79% certified fresh) film festival darling Saturday Night wide at 2,300 locations for a possible $3.5M-$5M take. The movie’s predominant money has been in Los Angeles and New York City. The $30M Jason Reitman-directed pic about the behind-the-scenes craziness of Saturday Night Live on the eve of its first telecast has grossed $661K through Monday after a platform release that began September 27. Previews are at 2 p.m. Thursday at 2,025 locations.

Focus Features has the Morgan Neville-directed documentary Piece by Piece, about Pharrell Williams and told in LEGO form, which could see $3M-$5M+ as well at 1,851 sites. The movie cost $16M before P&A. Universal took the world on it. The ultimate comp at the end of the day are documentaries that final in the mid-teens, like RBG with $14M. Pharrell is a big part of the NBCUniversal universe having been a judge on NBC’s The Voice, plus he has his next live-action feature, the Michel Gondry musical feature Atlantis, set for May 9, 2025 at big Uni. That movie is based on Williams’ childhood at the Virginia Beach Atlantis Apartments during the summer of 1977. As for Piece by Piece, reviews start at 2 p.m. Thursday and RT reviews are 91% fresh.

There’s also Briarcliff Entertainment’s U.S. acquisition of the Donald Trump biopic, The Apprentice starring Sebastian Stan as the young real estate baron, Jeremy Strong as his notorious mentor as Roy Cohn and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Pic is booked at 1,740 locations and only expected to do in the low single digits after all the headlines for the Ali Abbasi-directed including the Trump campaign threatening legal action during the pic’s Cannes Film Festival premiere. Reviews are 79% fresh on RT. Previews start at 4 p.m. tomorrow.