David Gordon Green’s Halloween was a massive hit back in 2018, the return of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode scaring up $159 million domestically and $255 million worldwide. The success of that film has led to two sequels, Halloween Kills and next year’s Halloween Ends, with Halloween Kills released into theaters and at home via Peacock today, October 15th.
The film was actually released into 2,950 theaters across the United States for Thursday night previews last night, and Halloween Kills currently stands at $4.9 million from those showings.
For the sake of comparison, Halloween made $7.7 million in Thursday night previews back in 2018. That film, of course, was not released during a pandemic, and it was only playing in movie theaters at the time. Halloween Kills has been released into a far different landscape, with the film’s free availability on Peacock Premium cutting into box office profits.
Regardless, a $4.9m Thursday opening is a pretty strong number for Halloween Kills, all things considered, with Deadline reporting that it’s now on track to “open to mid-to-high $30Ms.”
That would of course be a far cry from the $76 million domestic opening of Halloween back in 2018, but it again must be noted that the circumstances couldn’t have been more different.
By tonight, Halloween Kills will be available in 3,700 theaters in the United States. Once we get some new figures for the weekend, we’ll of course keep you posted. Stay tuned!
(from left) Karen (Judy Greer), Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Allyson (Andi Matichak) in Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green.