SATURDAY UPDATE: It looks like Smile 2 is going to open pretty much on par with the first film. Deadline is predicting that the horror sequel is going to gross somewhere around $22 million this weekend, which will bring it in just under the $22.6 million the original opened with. While only time will tell whether or not the sequel will have the legs the original did (it grossed over $200 million worldwide), the reviews for this are spot-on, and the opening is pretty much in line with our predictions.

Terrifier 3 is looking at about a 48% dip from the first weekend (good for a horror movie), but will likely get overtaken in second place by The Wild Robot, which is having great legs at the box office and should make $10.7 million this weekend, compared to Art the Clown’s $9.8 million. Further down the list, A24’s We Live in Time is overperforming, with a predicted $4 million weekend, and a predicted fifth place finish.

Check back tomorrow for our full box office report!

The people at Paramount will also be smiling ear-to-ear as the sequel to the 2022 horror film Smile keeps the scares going this October after Terrifier 3 topped last week’s box office top ten. Smile 2 blew away our own Chris Bumbray as he glowed in his review, “Smile 2 dwarfed its predecessor, but it could rub people the wrong way with its heavy doses of pitch-black comedy. However, Finn also doesn’t skimp on the gore, with it being more gruesome than the original and having a big payoff, which is an all-timer for me as far as these things go. Indeed, I was shocked at how much I loved Smile 2. For me, it’s one of the more entertaining films I’ve seen this year, with the two-hour-plus running time racing by. It’s an all-out gore-soaked blast.”

Deadline is now reporting that audiences lined up for a good scare for the early Thursday preview of the Parker Finn horror movie, and Smile 2 would conjure up $2.5 million as it started its run at 5pm through 3,000 locations. This would best the first movie’s early preview by half a million, while the first would go on to make $22.6 million in its opening weekend and finish its theater life with $105.9 million. The ticket presales were also a good sign for this sequel and the buzz is pretty positive as it sits on a certified fresh 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes while it waits for an audience score.

The Halloween-going crowd also had last week’s Terrifier 3 to give some good scares. The Thursday estimates indicate a slight drop with $1.5 million earned, which will bring its first week run to $26.9 million. The Terrifier movies made a splash with audiences due to the over-the-top violence and dark humor and many are saying that Terrifier 3 is the best in the series yet. The success of this new film is also priming audiences for an inevitable follow-up.

Meanwhile, not all of these October new releases are aiming to scare audiences, the Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh romantic drama We Live in Time from A24 expanded its release to 955 theaters. The film wouldn’t fair with the bigger releases and earned a humble $500k on Thursday.

The post Smile 2 scares up $22 million (or more) at the weekend box office appeared first on JoBlo.

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Black Myth: Wukong by Geeky Ninja

He-Man by Carlos Valenzuela

Kingpin by Bryan Johnson

Logan’s Run by John Dunn

Pan’s Labyrinth by Christopher Higginson

Poor Things by Sarah Atwa

The Shining by Victor Barreto

The Substance by Luis López

Terrifier by Forksaken Folklore

Transformers One by Alan Dav

The post Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net: He-Man, Poor Things, The Shining, The Substance, Terrifier, Transformers One appeared first on JoBlo.

Last year, when Damien Leone made the announcement that Art the Clown would be getting a Christmas-themed sequel releasing October 2024, I’m not sure any of us expected it to dethrone the Clown Prince of Crime at the box office. But that’s exactly what happened and now the franchise seems to be positioned to give horror fans everything they’ve ever wanted. By avoiding studio dollars, Leone’s vision is uncompromising. This means gore, gore, gore! But it also means a relationship built with fans where, by giving them something truly shocking, Terrifier is in a place that no horror film has been in decades: one of complete creative freedom. Which makes the future of the series more tantalizing than ever.

When I spoke to Damien last year for the Terrifier 2, he was antsy about a certain kill in 3. So now that we’re speaking again, I made sure to ask the Terrifier 3 director about which kill that happened to be. And it may surprise you. But it wasn’t just the writer/director I was lucky enough to speak to as Chris Jericho also joined in on the fun. As shown by his appearance at the end of 2, any expectation of a lengthy role would be a mistake. We got into just how last-minute Jericho’s scene happened as well as the process of getting prosthetics for his face made. I can only imagine how happy both are now that Terrifier 3 is the number-one film in the country. Terrifier fans should get a kick out of this behind-the-scenes insight on the third entry.

TERRIFIER 3 plot synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.

The post Interview: Damien Leone and Chris Jericho Talk All Things Terrifier 3 appeared first on JoBlo.

Nine months of horror releases down, three to go! We’re officially in the “spooky season” portion of the year, the build-up to our favorite holiday, Halloween, and with our 2024 Fall Horror Movie Preview, we’re looking ahead at some of the horror movies we can’t wait to check out in the remaining months of this year. For now, we’re only including movies that have a known release date, so films like the remakes/reboots of The Toxic Avenger and Witchboard are currently absent because they don’t have a release date yet, even though they might still show up at some point in 2024. Below, you’ll find a list of the movies we’re anxious to see this Halloween season and beyond… so, here we go:

SMILE 2 – Theatrical, October 18

Smile writer/director Parker Finn’s said that if he were to make a sequel to his 2022 horror hit, he would want to make sure it’s “new, exciting, fresh” rather than just a retread of its predecessor. The freshness begins with the casting of Naomi Scott – who was not in Smile – as the lead character in Smile 2, a pop star who begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events while gearing up for her new world tour.

DIE ALONE – Theatrical, digital/VOD, October 18

The latest film from WolfCop and Another WolfCop director Lowell Dean, Die Alone drops Frank Grillo of the Purge franchise and Carrie-Anne Moss of the Matrix franchise into a post-apocalyptic world that has been reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, which we’ve previously heard described as “zombie-like monsters.” And the idea of getting to see Frank Grillo and Carrie-Anne Moss fight zombie-like monsters is enough to get us interested in adding this one to our list of Halloween season must-sees.

DON’T MOVE – Netflix, October 25

Produced by genre legend Sam Raimi and directed by Adam Schindler and Brian Netto, who directed episodes of the Raimi-produced anthology series 50 States of Fright, Don’t Move stars Yellowstone cast member Kelsey Asbille as a woman who is injected with a paralytic agent by a killer and “must run, fight and hide before her body completely shuts down.” Sounds interesting, and the involvement of Sam Raimi is enough to make this one a must-see for many genre fans.

TIME CUT – Netflix, October 30

Freaky collaborators Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon have teamed up again to bring us Time Cut, which has been described as “Back to the Future meets Scream.” Kennedy wrote the Time Cut script with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend story editor Sono Patel and Landon produced the film, which has been directed by Hannah MacPherson, director of Sickhouse and the Into the Dark film Pure. Madison Bailey of Outer Banks and Antonia Gentry of Ginny & Georgia star in the film, which is about a teenage girl going back in time to the early 2000s to stop the murder of her sister from ever happening. We were already sold as soon as we saw the “Back to the Future meets Scream” description.

NIGHTBITCH – Theatrical, December 6

Amy Adams stars in this darkly comic “neo-horror” movie, written and directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and based on a novel by Rachel Yoder. The lead character is a stay-at-home suburban mom who begins to suspect that she might be turning into a dog… and that’s about all we know about this one so far. Scott McNairy plays Adams’ “oft-traveling husband,” while Mary Holland takes on an unspecified role.

Y2K – Theatrical, December 6

The feature directorial debut of Saturday Night Live veteran Kyle Mooney, the apocalyptic horror comedy is another A24 release. This one takes us back to the last day of December 1999, when the world was concerned that technology was going to crash when the calendar switched over to 2000. Things do go terribly wrong in Mooney’s movie, but not in the way anyone was expecting back in ’99. Instead, he has his characters – which include the likes of Jaeden Martell (Stephen King’s It), Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople), and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst – fighting for their lives against rebellious machines.

NOSFERATU – Theatrical, December 25

Nine years have gone by since it was first announced that The Witch director Robert Eggers was going to be writing and directing a remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu. At the end of this year, we’re finally going to be able to see what Eggers – who made The Lighthouse and The Northman in the interim – has done with the concept. Bill Skarsgard (It) plays the title character and is joined in the cast by Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol), Nicholas Hoult (Renfield), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train), Emma Corrin (The Crown), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2), and the legendary Willem Dafoe, who plays a crazy vampire hunter. Focus Features wanted to give this film “a prime holiday season release”, so they clearly believe Eggers has turned in something special.

The post 2024 Fall Horror Movie Preview: Everything We Want to See appeared first on JoBlo.

At the world premiere of the recently released Terrifier 3, franchise writer/director Damien Leone said there will be a Terrifier 4 – and he later said he thinks that will be the last entry in the franchise, because he doesn’t want it to wear out his welcome. But during new interviews with Variety and Coming Soon, Leone has admitted that, if he has trouble fitting the remaining story he has in mind into a reasonable running time, he might need to make Terrifier 5 to properly wrap things up… and even then, there’s always the chance Art the Clown could return again down the line, just like his fellow slashers Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees always do.

Speaking with Coming Soon, Leone said, “No, so when I wrote part 2, I knew what the end of this franchise was. So, then it just became a matter of, ‘Well, how many puzzle pieces do I need to get from here to there?’ So it should just be one more movie unless it turns into something too big again. Because nobody could deal with, like, a two-and-a-half hour slasher film. It’s just too much to ask of people. So, I mean, if it gets out of control, who knows where it’s gonna go? It wasn’t even my intention to really announce that there was gonna be a part 4. The way that happened was we were at the Fantastic Fest screening. It was like 2:30 in the morning. We did a Q&A afterwards, and now I’m in a room with people who have eyes in their head. They’ve just seen the end of Terrifier 3, clearly it’s the most blatant Empire Strikes Back cliffhanger ending. Like, there’s gonna be another one. So the person asked me, is there gonna be more? I’m like, ‘Well, of course, there’s gonna be more.’ I would never do that to the audience. Like, how can you leave the audience there? Then next day it’s like, ‘Damian Leone Announces Terrifier 4,’ ‘Terrifier 4 Greenlit.’ This, that. I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Let’s just get through Terrifier 3.’ So, yeah, I mean, there is. You will know the end of this franchise. It is a like concrete solid sort of ending. When you see it, you’ll know what it is. You’ll know when this thing is put to bed for a while, at least. I mean, we’ve opened up the door to the supernatural, so I could always figure out a way to bring Art the Clown back if I wanted to. But I want to have a solid franchise, a saga that I could tell with a beginning, middle, and an end. You know what it is. You could walk away feeling satisfied. I don’t want to just kind of get lost in the woods and you just meandering and kind of fall into like the category of just diminishing returns, and you’re just tarnishing everything that’s come before it, or characters who you thought should have played a major part, really had nothing to do in the grand scheme of things. It’s like, ‘Well, why did I invest all that emotion, all that time and energy into what came before it?’ So I don’t wanna run into that trap, which happens to a lot of franchises. So, I think maybe one more film and that’ll really tell the story that’ll put an end to the saga for a while anyway.“

He told Variety, “There is no definitive answer at this time regarding how many more films I will make before concluding the Terrifier saga. Personally, I can’t see it going further than one or two more films, but only time will tell. For now, all I can say with certainty is that I know how it ends, and it will be epic. It will certainly be an epic showdown, an epic closure to this Art the Clown saga. The idea I’m toying with in my head would probably be in some regards the most experimental, so I can’t dive into it too much. Some really, really crazy things will happen in the next one.“

So Terrifier franchise fans can look forward to a crazy, experimental Terrifier 4 that could either wrap up the story, or lead into a Terrifier 5 that will wrap it up… and then, thanks to the supernatural, there could still be more sequels after Art takes a bit of a rest.

Are you looking forward to seeing Terrifier 4, Terrifier 5, and beyond? Share your thoughts on this franchise by leaving a comment below.

The post Terrifier 4 is required to wrap up the story of Art the Clown – but Terrifier 5 might be necessary, too appeared first on JoBlo.

The first film in writer/director Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise had a running time of 85 minutes, which I feel is just about perfect for a slasher movie. Then Leone went wild on Terrifier 2, letting it go on for 138 minutes… which a lot of viewers didn’t mind, while others (like me) thought was painfully excessive. So when he was working on the recently released Terrifier 3, he promised this one would be shorter. And it is, slightly. Terrifier 3 has a running time of 125 minutes – and during an interview with Coming Soon, Leone took a moment to defend the length of the Art the Clown sequels.

When he was asked about running time complaints and lessons learned while making these movies, Leone said, “I’m happy with what Terrifier 2 is. I’m happy with the length of it, but what wasn’t working for a lot of people was the length. It was too much for just a mass audience. Especially now we’re living in TikTok era. 2 hours, 18 minutes, which is the runtime of Terrifier 2, is a lot to ask of the audience. So I don’t think it was a mistake, so to speak. That was just genuinely the movie, the story I wanted to tell. But I don’t wanna double down on that now and say, ‘Well, you didn’t like 2 hours, 18 minutes. Here’s 2 hours, 40 minutes. Deal with it.’ That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make this as accessible for people while not losing what’s important to the franchise. So, that’s the reason why (Terrifier 3) came in at now 2 hours. I think it’s 2 hours and 5 minutes. So it’s like two hours, not including credits. But this could have been longer. Again, my original cut was like 2 hours and 20 minutes, and I had to just cut out like five or six scenes because I really didn’t want to deliver that 2 hour, 18-minute movie again because it’s a lot to ask. So, again, it doesn’t mean I won’t make a two-and-a-half-hour movie if that’s genuinely the story I want to tell, and I don’t feel like it’s dragging. I’ve spoken to people before. You’ll hear people say, ‘Oh, there’s all this filler in these movies that could be cut out,’ or it’s ‘unnaturally long.’ I don’t think that’s a fair criticism. I think that they’re underestimating or they’re not realizing what’s padding these runtimes isn’t the stuff in between that you think is dragging. It’s the big Art the Clown set pieces that make these movies unorthodox, and that adds to the longer runtime. Everything else, if you took it out, it would be just as long as the ‘filler,’ so to speak, that’s in your typical slasher movie. Your typical slasher movie is an hour and 20 minutes, an hour and 30 minutes, and your killer’s only in the movie for five minutes, like seven minutes. The kill scenes add up to about three minutes of the entire movie. You know what I mean? So you probably have more filler and more drama in your typical 80-minute slasher than you do in Terrifier 2. It’s just there are so many big scenes with Art the Clown where he’s toying with his victims for four minutes, where he’s killing somebody for four minutes. You don’t want just one kill. You want a bunch of kills. That’s what this franchise has become known for. So again, it’s a very unorthodox slasher film, and I think it gets unjustly criticized for its runtime.“

Terrifier 3 has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. Here’s some more information: After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare. The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe.

David Howard Thornton reprises the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve (although Thornton didn’t start playing him until Terrifier). Also in the cast are Lauren LaVera, who’s back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna; Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan, Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes, and Daniel Roebuck, who has been cast in the role of Santa Claus. FX legend Tom Savini also shows up, as do Jon Abrahams, Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, and legendary character actor Clint Howard. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is back in Terrifier 3 – but he made sure to let everyone know that his appearance in the film doesn’t last very long.

What do you think of what Damien Leone had to say about the running times of the Terrifier sequels? Do you think the length is justified, or could he have found ways to trim the movies down some more? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Terrifier director defends the long running times of the sequels appeared first on JoBlo.

The box office numbers are coming in, and one thing is for sure – Joker: Folie à Deux is officially DOA at the box office. How does a movie go from being the most anticipated film of the year to one of the biggest box office flops ever? I guess by making it a musical and showing absolute disdain (if not loathing) for the fans that made the first one a billion-dollar box office smash (and an Oscar winner to boot).

Indeed, the battle between Terrifier 3 and Joker: Folie à Deux wasn’t even close. The $5 million budget, unrated Terrifier 3 way outpaced expectations (including our own) to make just over $18 million this weekend (according to Deadline), despite no stars or studio support. When all is said and done, studios are going to have to sit up and take notice of the fact that two of the year’s most profitable movies, Terrifier 3 and Longlegs, wound up being smash hits because they became must-see events for their respective audiences. Why is it that seemingly only horror audiences can be mobilized this way? Maybe an enterprising studio can try to apply this formula to other, somewhat dormant genres, like lower-key action and comedy. Rebel Ridge was a smash for Netflix. Maybe something similar could gain a foothold in theaters?

Joker: Folie à Deux didn’t even manage a second-place finish, with it easily beaten by the well-reviewed The Wild Robot (now getting a sequel), which made $13.45 million for a strong $83.7 million total. It will likely cross the $100 million mark by the end of next weekend. Joker slumped into third place, falling a shocking 82% in its second weekend for a $7.055 million weekend, and an abysmal total just north of $52 million. When the final numbers are in, it could theoretically be beaten by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which made over $7 million this weekend for a $275 million total. It’s pretty interesting that Warner Bros has both the biggest hit of the fall season and the biggest flop. 

The Lego-animated Pharrell doc, Piece By Piece, managed an ok fifth-place finish with $3.8 million. Transformers One continued to underperform (spectacularly) with $3.65 million for a $52 million total. In pretty sad news, Jason Reitman’s excellent Saturday Night, about the early days of SNL, totally whiffed at the box office this weekend, making a poor $3.4 million for a total of just over $4 million. It will be lucky to break $10 million domestically, although it should find an audience on VOD. 

The anime My Hero Academia: You’re Next (which our own Steve Seigh reviewed here) did well enough to hit eighth place, with $3 million. A re-release of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas turned out to be an event fans were dying to see, with it grossing a solid $2.3 million, bringing its lifeline gross to $89.9 million. Finally, the controversial Donald Trump movie, The Apprentice, was bombed (badly) and came in tenth place, with only $1.58 million despite playing on over 1500 screens. Yikes. 

Next weekend sees the release of Parker Finn’s Smile 2, which could give us our first $50 million plus opening since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Do you think Art the Clown will be able to slash his way to a second-place finish next weekend? Let us know in the comments!

The post Weekend Box Office: Terrifier 3 easily takes 1st place, Joker 2 falls a record 82% in week 2 appeared first on JoBlo.

When All Hallow’s Eve was released back in 2013, I doubt many of us thought we’d be getting a whole franchise out of the creepy miming clown. Yet we just saw the release of the third entry in the Terrifier franchise–and it’s set at Christmas! So we here at JoBlo wanted to take a look back on the series and see where exactly they fall in terms of quality. Because it’s the rare series that seems to “level up” with each entry, always improving upon the production in some way. Though, they’ve always had the blood and guts handled pretty well. After all, if there’s one thing the series is known for: it’s the gore. But there are also some great characters and shocking moments that give each film their distinct personalities. So let’s see where they fall on this, Terrifier Movies Ranked:

The Worst: Terrifier 2 (2022)

I’ll probably get heat for this but I’ve never been a fan of the second entry. It’s too long and I never got into the strange backstory with Sienna. And the acting from young Jonathan made my ears bleed. But there are still plenty of great kills in this, as Art really languishes in the torture this time around. Plus, Lauren LaVera‘s Sienna has one of the most iconic final girl outfits of all time, with her winged warrior costume. And Art is really starting to get into his murder groove.

All Hallow’s Eve (2013)

Art the Clown appears in all three stories of this anthology film and it’s not quite the fully formed Art that we’re used to seeing. You may notice the makeup is a bit different and that’s because it’s not David Howard Thornton underneath it. Instead, Mike Giannelli plays Art and it’s decidedly less interesting. Art is still scary due to Leone’s vision for the character, but he does seem to be missing that special something. Even so, the stories unfolding are pretty gnarly, with several unexpected victims.

Terrifier (2016)

One thing that the first film does so well is feeling like an old campfire tale. Art is a force of nature and you feel terrible for anyone that crosses his path here. Catherine Corcoran has one of the best deaths of the series and it establishes Art as being absolutely ruthless. There’s not much in terms of character here as this is definitely the Art the Clown show. And that’s not a bad thing as he definitely leans into the more “mime on the verge of snapping” approach.

The Best: Terrifier 3 (2024)

Rarely does the third (fourth?) entry in a franchise end up being the best, especially when it goes for a gimmick like setting the film at Christmas. Yet somehow Terrifier 3 provides a truly fantastic experience from start to finish. From shocking moments that you can’t believe are actually happening to a more succinct plot, there’s a lot for horror fans to latch onto. Plus, is there anything better than people leaving your movie early because they’re so offended at what’s happening on screen? If anything, it’s a mark of pride. I absolutely loved this film and feel it’s the perfect way to do a holiday film, while not being beholden to the holiday for your plot. This allows the film to be watched whenever versus simply at Christmas time, which makes this a massive win.

How would YOU rank the Terrifier series? What did you think of Terrifier 3? Is Art the Clown a worthy bad guy? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Terrifier Movies Ranked: From Worst to Best! appeared first on JoBlo.

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Carrie by Stephen Andrade

The Corspe Bride by Kevin Tiernan

Dirty Harry by Charles Griak

The Legend of Zelda by Kyle Fast

Nosferatu The Vampyre by Graham Corcoran

The Substance by Siddharth Vinod

Tales From The Crypt by Bryan Johnson

Terrifier by Ted Hammond

Transformers by Ryan Button

The Wild Robot by Alan Dav

The post Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net: Carrie, Nosferatu, The Substance, Terrifier appeared first on JoBlo.

UPDATE: The Friday numbers are starting to roll in, and it looks like the micro-budget Terrifier 3 is indeed wiping the floor with Joker: Folie a Deux at the weekend box office (just as we predicted). But, in a stunning turn of events, it looks like the much-hated Joker sequel (which we unpacked on this week’s livestream) might not even hit second place at the box office, with Deadline reporting that The Wild Robot might be able to take second place. 

Terrifier 3 looks like it will hit about $15 million this weekend, which is quite a coup for an indie horror flick without any studio support behind it. The only caveat is that, given the rabid fan base, it might be front-loaded, and could gross a lot less on Saturday than it did on Friday. The Wild Robot looks like it will hit second place, with about $13 million this weekend, being propelled by excellent word of mouth. 

As for Joker, it looks like it will come in third, with a $8-9 million weekend, which would mean it fell off a disastrous 77% in its second weekend. Ouch. Meanwhile, it looks like Jason Reitman’s excellent Saturday Night is struggling to find a theatrical audience, with it only on track for a $4 million weekend. The Donald Trump movie, The Apprentice, is also crashing with audiences, with it only on track to make about $1-1.5 million for the weekend.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a full box office rundown!

Original Post:

Damien Leone’s Art the Clown is back to sink an ax into the box office with Terrifier 3 (read our review here), just in time for the lead-up to Halloween! On Thursday, the unrated Cineverse slasher reached $2.6M in previews, with screenings beginning at 8 p.m. Reports indicate Terrifier 3 only cost $5 million for its acquisition and publicity. It’s worth mentioning that Art the Clown is a hit at Spirit Halloween stores this holiday, with various costumes, props, apparel, and animatronic decorations throughout the limited-time Halloween-themed outlet. If Terrifier 3 only costs $5M to bring to cinemas and has already made $2.6M, the splatterpunk sequel could become another mega-hit for the studio.

While Art’s got a big smile at the thought of making audiences puke from his hyper-violent antics, Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux feels the opposite. Analysts expect Terrifier 3 to overtake Joker: Folie à Deux at the box office this weekend with an $11M debut. Terrifier 3 holds a 94% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes despite audiences exiting the film early to refund their popcorn into a theater restroom toilet.

“The early box office numbers putting Terrifier 3 at No. 1 after early previews are far beyond our expectations and we are thrilled to see how strongly the Terrifier fanbase has come out in support of the franchise’s new chapter,” said Cineverse Chairman/CEO Chris McGurk in a statement this AM. “This success is proof that a quality indie film can hold its own theatrically despite being unrated and going up against big studio features and buzzy festival darlings, and is a testament to Phil and Damien’s vision and connection to those most passionate about the horror genre.”

Meanwhile, Joker: Folie à Deux slowly danced through its first week with $44.5M. That’s 19% behind the first week of Marvel Studios’ The Marvels, which took home $54.8M. Other previews include the Pharrell Williams LEGO documentary Piece by Piece, which stacked $450K from 1,500 theaters, with analysts expecting a $3M-$9M weekend debut. Toho International’s My Hero Academia: You’re Next punched its way to $413K in previews in 1,845 theaters. You’re Next is a thrilling roller coaster of action, superhero spectacle, and character-building. Check out our full review of My Hero Academia: You’re Next here!

Elsewhere, the SNL origin movie Saturday Night banked $370K in previews, with showtimes beginning at 2 p.m. As positive word of mouth spreads, the film could earn $3M-$5M during the weekends. Finally, Briarcliff Entertainment’s The Apprentice, about a young Donald Trump and his mentor Roy Cohn, borderline bombed with a $150K debut. Critics love The Apprentice, but general audiences could feel Trumped out because of the ongoing and exhaustive election cycle.

Are you going to the movies this weekend? What do you plan on seeing? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Terrifier 3 on track for a $15 million weekend; Joker 2 might not even come in 2nd at the weekend box office appeared first on JoBlo.