$23M ‘Smile 2’ Psycho Thriller Tops Box Office Premieres As Romantic ‘We Live In Time’ Flourishes

This weekend’s box office charts had a diverse selection of films that saw ‘Smile 2’ take a respectable $23 million in its debut weekend.

‘Smile 2’ Fetches More Than ‘Smile’ On Debut Weekend At Box Office

Around this time last year, writers’ and actors’ strikes affected theatre schedules, yet Comscore indicated that this weekend’s box office saw a decline of 11.4% from 2023 and 26.8% from 2019.

‘Smile 2,’ the chilling R-rated sequel to Paramount’s “Smile” opened with $23 million this yeari in North America and $46 million globally , comparing favorably with the original’s North American opening of $22.6 million in 2022. ‘Smile’ went on to become a sleeper hit with $105 million domestically and $217 million globally.

The sequel, “Smile 2,” which cost $28 million, is again directed by Parker Finn. Starring as a pop singer, Naomi Scott encounters a series of disturbing events as she starts her tour. In another improvement on the original, ‘Smile 2’ got a “B” grade on CinemaScore- an upgrade from the original’s “B-.”

David A. Gross, of Franchise Entertainment Research said horror series are one of the more difficult genres to sustain over multiple episodes, making the ‘Smile 2’ debut particularly good.

This Weekend’s Box Office Winners

At the speciality box office,  A24’s weepy romantic drama “We Live in Time” debuted at fifth place with $4.1 million despite appearing in just 955 theaters. Starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh as a young couple in difficult circumstances, has grossed $4.5 million so far with mainly young women buying tickets. 85% were under 35 and 70% were woman.

Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning “Anora,” collected $540,000 from only six theaters in New York City and Los Angeles, translating to $90,000 per theatre, the best screen average according to its distributor, Neon.

It’s also the second-highest post-pandemic screen average, behind Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City. The rom-com’s take on an exotic dancer and sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch will be looking for a place in the awards race.

The $200 million-budgeted Warner Bros, Joker: Folie à Deux” fell to number 6 in its third weekend, collecting $2.18 million from 2,857 venues, and looks set to become a box office disaster with $56.4 million domestically and $192 million globally compared with the original “Joker” which collected $96.2 million domestically and $248.4 million worldwide in its opening weekend.

Another Warner Bros. release, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” was in fourth place with $5 million over 3,251 locations. The original “Beetlejuice” collected a solid $283 million in North America and $434.6 million worldwide.

In Second place, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” made $10 million in its fourth weekend and has amassed $101.7 million domestically and $196 million globally.

By comparison, the slasher ’Terrifier 3,’ last weekend’s surprise winner, took $9.1 million in its debut weekend.