Halloween Forecast to Break Franchise, Genre Records

Halloween’s premiere can’t come soon enough for fans. Riding a wave of positive buzz and good reviews, Halloween is on track for the biggest opening weekend of any film in the Michael Myers franchise and could even have one of the biggest openings in the horror genre. A new report by Deadline forecasts an over $40 million opening for the David Gordon Green-directed film, with the possibility of the film raking in $50 million. This compares to the Rob Zombie Halloween film from 2007, which currently has the highest opening weekend for the franchise at $26.3 million.

Halloween premiered earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival to rave reviews and a standing ovation from those lucky enough to attend the film’s first screening. Since then, market and studio research firms have found that it is the number one choice for moviegoers under 25 to see on its opening weekend. Additional factors also play into forecasts for Halloween to premiere to an over $40 million opening. Not only will the film’s looming advertising campaign bring new interest to the film, its eponymous holiday is less than two weeks from the film’s opening. Additionally, audiences might be drawn back to the franchise for the sake of nostalgia and because of the return of original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis to her most famous role of Laurie Strode.

Although sure to break records for the Halloween franchise, box office analysts are even more excited about the possibility that the film might score one of the biggest openings for a horror film. While it is unlikely that Halloween will break the record held by current champ’s It $123 million opening last year, analysts say it is possible for the film to crack the top five. Among the films in horror’s top 5 openings include World War Z at $66 million, Hannibal at $58 million, last month’s The Nun at $53.8 million, and Paranormal Activity 3 at $52 million. While Halloween’s current forecast makes an over $50 million debut unlikely, the film’s trajectory could move upward to push it over the edge. Nevertheless, Halloween might still make enough money to surpass the critically acclaimed The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, which both premiered to over $40 million hauls.

Halloween slashes its way into theaters on October 19.