Todd Phillips Film dropped 81 percent

Manfred Mann’s 1968 hit single “Ha! Ha! Said the Clown” hits theaters this weekend while “Terrifier 3” (Iconic/Cineverse) easily took the top spot. “Has the king lost his crown?” the second verse reads. Well, he did that, and more, as “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.) dropped 81 percent, probably reaching fourth place (the studio claims it’s in third place with $5,000).

“Terrifier” is the third installment in the unrated micro-budget horror series. With a budget of $5 million (including marketing), what was expected to be an already decent $8 million opening more than doubled. Perfectly positioned ahead of Halloween, ahead of “Smile 2” (Paramount) next week, it built on its growing fandom and a clever social media campaign.

With an audience reportedly nearly half Latino, “Terrifier 3” saved a bad weekend from getting worse. It’s an impressive feat, even more so without an MPA rating, and it could reach $50 million.

The caveat is that we have $18.3 million for No. 1. In 2021 and 2022, two same-day streaming “Halloween” movies opened to more than $40 million. Cineverse and its distributor Iconic have done an excellent job, but it’s not enough to fill the gap in theater attendance.

One problem this week is that other studios are avoiding the second weekend of “Folie” (the first “Joker” dropped to $56 million in weekend two). Since “Smile 2” was postponed until the following week, “Terrifier 3” had an open path.

Four other wide openers failed to gross a combined $12 million, with Focus’ “Piece by Piece” being the best with $3.8 million. We saw a strong increase for #2 “The Wild Robot” (Universal), down 29 percent, and the likely #3 “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (WB), which dropped 30 percent for a total of $275 million.

None of that can compensate for the disaster of ‘Folie’. Warners claims the critically derided title beat its own “Beetlejuice” by $5,000, but other studios estimate “Folie” at $6.6 million-$6.7 million. Last Sunday, Warners’ opening weekend gross of $40 million was six percent high (normally anything over three percent is suspect); we expect that when the currents come in, “Folie” will come fourth.

Not that it matters: At best, “Folie” is down 81 percent in weekend two, which is a dubious record. To date, no new release that opened over $20 million in its second weekend has ever dropped more than 80 percent. With just under $52 million in, the U.S.-Canada total will likely remain under $70 million. Abroad is doing better ($22.6 million this weekend). Worldwide combined, that’s $165 million.

With $300 million or more in production/marketing costs, expect “Joker 2” to reach perhaps $225 million worldwide. 2019’s ‘Joker’ with lower ticket prices passed $1 billion. That is another historic decline.

With the rapid increase in interest in the sleeper horror film and the total collapse of the Todd Phillps film, ‘Terrifier’ and ‘Folie’ each reflect the enormous power of social media. All the money WB spent on “Folie” (the expenses for the Venice premiere were probably more than the entire budget for “Terrifier 3”) only served to increase the chances that the negative reaction would prevail.

While “Megalopolis” (Lionsgate) disappointed with its $4 million opening gross, you still have to give it credit for outperforming all comparable releases this week. “Piece by Piece,” Morgan Neville’s animated Pharrell Williams documentary, received an A Cinemascore and a fifth-place finish, ahead of the expansion of “Saturday Night” (Sony), #7 and the more limited anime “My Hero Academia: You’re Next” (Toho) eighth.

At #10 is “The Apprentice” (Briarcliff) with just over $1.5 million. Donald Trump’s origin story was praised by stars Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, but failed to attract anti-Trump voters. Much more successful with Trump supporters was the just-released documentary “Vindicating Trump.” For once, the candidate showed real restraint by not mentioning the movie. If he had, he might have had a better chance.

‘We live in time’

Supported by multiple Q&A screenings, John Crowley’s romantic drama “We Live in Time,” starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, grossed $226,000 from five New York/Los Angeles theaters ($45,182 per location). While reasonable, that’s less than “Saturday Night” from two weeks ago ($270,000, also in five). It will be expanded in the top cities next Friday and wider on October 25.

In what has been a difficult specialized season, we can commend “The Substance” (MUBI) for going wide from the start. Although there are still only 586 theaters, more than $1.1 million was added this weekend, for a total of just under $12 million. It could be $15 million, on the high side of expectations.

Total grosses were $74 million, down 45 percent from last year (when “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” debuted). Year-to-date the decline remains 11 percent.

Top 10

1. More frightening 3 (Iconic/Cineverse) NEW – Cinema Score: B; Metacritic: 61; Estimated. budget: $2 million

$18,300,000 in 2,514 theaters; PTA (per theater): $7,279; Cumulative: $18,300,000

2. The wild robot (Universal) Week 3; Last weekend number 2

$13,450,000 (-29%) in 3,854 (-143) theaters; PTA: $3,490; Cumulative: $83,730,000

*3. Joker: Folie à Deux (WB) Week 2; Last weekend number 1

$7,055,000 (-%) in 4,102 (no change) theaters; PTA (per theater): $1,720; Cumulative: $51,611,000

*4. Beetle juice Beetle juice (Warner Bros.) Week 6; Last weekend number 3

$7,050,000 (-30%) in 3,408 (-168) theaters; PTA: $2,069; Cumulative: $275,617,000

* (actual rank is determined after reported Sunday grosses)

5. One by one (Focus) NEW – Cinema Score: A; Metacritic: 62; Estimated. budget: $16 million

$3,800,000 in 1,865 theaters; PTA: $2,038; Cumulative: $3,800,000

6. Transformers One (Decisive) Week 4; Last weekend number 4

$3,650,000 (-32%) in 2,758 (-348) theaters; PTA: $1,175; Cumulative: $52,851,000

7. Saturday evening (Sony) Week 3; Last weekend number 19

$3,435,000 (+1,168%) in 2,309 theaters; PTA: $1,488; Cumulative: $4,189,000

8. My Hero Academia: You’re next (Toho) NEW – Cinemascore: A-

$3,007,000 in 1,845 theaters; PTA: $1,630; Cumulative: $3,007,000

9. The nightmare before Christmas (Disney) RE-RELEASE

$2,300,000 in 1,700 theaters; PTA: $1,353; Cumulative: $(reissue) 2,300,000

10. The student (Briarcliff) NEW – Cinema Score: B-; Metacritic: 64; Estimated. budget: $16 million

$1,580,000 in 1,740 theaters; PTA: $908; Cumulative: $1,580,000

Other specialized/independent titles

The films (Limited, Extensions of Limited) are listed by week of release, starting with the films that opened this week; after the first three weeks, only films grossing over $5,000 are listed. Metacritical scores and first film festivals recorded when available.

We live in time (A24) NEW – Metacritical: 61; Festivals include: Toronto 2024

$225,991 in 5 theaters; PTA: $45,182

Average Joe (Vathom) NEW

$1,116,000 in theaters; PTA: $651

The cruise (Oscilloscope) REPUBLICATION

$5,573 in 1 theater; PTA: $$5,573

Look back (GKids) Week 2 2

$239,320 in theaters; PTA: $1,477; Cumulative: $1,548,000

White Bird (Lions Gate) Week 2

$755,000 in 1,038 (+20) theaters; PTA: $; Cumulative: $3,041,000

The outlet (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 2

$101,028 in 200 (-308) theaters; PTA: $505; Cumulative: $612,785

Nurse invisible (RBL) Week 2

$9,640 in 2 theaters; PTA: $4,820; Cumulative: $28,460

Separated (Submarine Deluxe) Week 2

$4,597 in 2 (+1) theaters; PTA: $2,499; Cumulative: $12,907

Daaaaaal! (Music box) Week 2

$7,000 in 13 (-6) theaters; PTA: $538; Cumulative: $12,837

Megapolis (Lionsgate) Week 3 1,854

$230,000 in 227 (-1,627) theaters; Cumulative: $7,344,000

Lee (Roadside attractions) Week 3

$104,565 in 151(-314) theaters; Cumulative: $1,700,000

Justifying Trump (SDG) Week 3 429

$15,500 in 67 (-362) theaters; Cumulative: $1,351,000

The fabric (MUBI) Week 4

$1,141,000 in 586 (-100) theaters; Cumulative: $11,624,000

Another man (A24) Week 4 265

$46,971 in 103 (-162) theaters; Cumulative: $

Am I racist? (SDG) Week 5

$115,000 in 207 (-355) theaters; Cumulative: $12,150,000