“Terminator: Dark Fate” crumbled at this week’s box office as yet again Warner Bros juggernaut “Joker” keeps on rolling.
The latest installment of Paramount’s “Terminator” franchise, “Dark Fate”, directed by “Deadpool”’s Tim Miller fell flat on its face in its opening weekend domestically, collecting a fleeting $29M. Billed as the ‘true’ sequel to “Judgement Day” following what is viewed by many as a plethora of failed sequels, “Dark Fate” has widely been hailed as the best since “T2”, though evidently not enough to stop it from only just beating the dismal opening of the last installment, “Terminator: Genisys”
, which garnered just over $27M on its own domestic opening. International figures also don’t make pretty reading for the studio. $94M from its first week see the film at $122M worldwide. Time will tell if it will even surpass the $440M “Genisys” made in 2015, though it’s likely it will have to rely on huge international numbers to do so.
Coming in second this week, but at the other end of the spectrum in terms of success is Warner Bros “Joker”. Having cruised through every R-rated record in its way, the Todd Phillips directed and Joaquin Phoenix starring DC comic adaptation took another healthy $39M in all markets this weekend, including $13M domestically. The just over $30M production now has a worldwide haul of $934M, meaning it looks set to break the fabled $1B barrier, a feat even more impressive when you factor in the film has done so without the second biggest market in China. Cue studio heads up and down the land racing to green-light R-rated dramas.
The battle for third and fourth this week involved Disney’s underperforming “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and a fresh-faced newbie in the form of Focus Features Oscar hopeful “Harriet”. And although Disney’s latest sequel edged the Cynthia Erivo starring true tale of Harriet Tubman, $12.175M to $12M, Focus Features will be delighted by the first-week haul for Kasi Lemmons’ latest feature.
Rounding off the top five is the star-studded animated “The Addams Family”. Now entering its third week, the film appeared to get a slight boost from Halloween as it added a further $29M internationally, pushing its overseas tally to $44M whilst its overall global tally stands just north of $125M
This week’s most notable release comes from the studio behind “Joker”, Warner Bros. Mike Flanagan’s sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic “The Shining”, “Doctor Sleep” steered up a solid opening in its nine territories. Its $5.6M ($2M of which came from the UK) is a solid start for a film that sits just over the two hours thirty mark.
In fact, “Doctor Sleep” is also next week’s main attraction as it looks to translate its overseas success into domestic prowess upon its November 8th release.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.