Universal and Blumhouse’s horror hit Five Nights at Freddy’s led a frightfully slow frame at the domestic box office amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
Originally, Denis Villeneuve’s high-profile tentpole Dune: Part Two was set to open this weekend, but the movie fled to 2024 because of the actors strike prohibition on stars doing any promotion. Legendary Pictures, home of the Dune franchise, believes the sequel’s cast — including Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet — is integral to the movie’s success.
Domestic ticket sales for all films are expected to come in at around $64 million for the weekend, one of the lowest showings of the year so far.
Five Nights at Freddy’s remains a star in its own right. The pic earned $19.4 million from 3,789 theaters in its sophomore outing as it jumped the $100 million mark domestically in less than 10 days. It’s no surprise that the pic tumbled a steep 76 percent, considering it’s also available on Peacock.
Overseas — where it is only available in theaters — Freddy’s pulled in an impressive $35.6 million for foreign tally of $103.5 million and global haul of $217.1 million against a modest $20 million budget (it is only the second horror title of 2023 to cross $200 million after New Line’s The Nun II, which has dazzled with $265.9 million).
Taylor Swift‘s and AMC Theatres’ Taylor Swift: Eras Tour continued to impress, grossing another $12 million to $13 million from 3,604 cinemas to hold at No. 2. The record-breaking concert pic has now cleared the $165 million domestically, according to rival estimates.
Martin Scorsese’s Oscar contender Killers of the Flower Moon, from Apple Original Films, came in third with an estimated $7 million from 3,706 locations for a domestic total of $52.3 million through its third weekend. Paramount is distributing Killers on behalf of Apple, which fully financed and marketed the $200 million epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro.
Sofia Coppola‘s awards contender Priscilla also made a major play this weekend as A24 expanded the movie nationwide after a promising start at the specialty box office. The movie, starring Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley, chronicles the years Presley spent with Elvis Presley, who is played by Jacob Elordi.
Thanks in large part to younger females, Priscilla came in ahead of industry expectations with an estimated $5.1 million from 1,344 theaters, good enough to come in No. 4. Female moviegoers made up 65 percent of the audience, while 75 percent of all ticket buyers were under 35.
Mexican comedy-drama Radical, starring and produced by Eugenio Derbez, rounded out the top five in North America with an estimated opening of $2.7 million from only 419 theaters. The new film features Derbez in his first dramatic starring role and is from Pantelion Films, Participant and production outfit 3Pas Studios.
Radical is already a box office hit in Mexico, where it is one of the most successful local-language films of the post-pandemic era with more than $5 million in ticket sales, according to the producers.
Nov. 5, 7:30 a.m.: Updated with revised weekend estimates.
This story was originally published Nov. 4 at 9:57 a.m.
