Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Scares Box Office Back To Life With Near-Record-Breaking Premiere Weekend
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The summer blockbuster slate portion of the 2024 movie calendar came to its end (with a whimper, at that) with last week’s box office numbers, but the official start of spooky season provided an immediate shot in the arm. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice brought in $110 million, knocking Deadpool & Wolverine from the top spot again with the third-biggest opening weekend this year after Ryan Reynolds’ MCU offering and Disney PIxar’s Inside Out 2. It also became the second-biggest September opening ever, following 2017’s IT: Chapter One.
There will be plenty of upcoming horror movies over the next couple of months, and Michael Keaton’s legacy sequel wasn’t the only one to hit the big screen this weekend. Check out the Top 10 chart, then we’ll break down all of the numbers below.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Becomes Second-Best September Release Ever
Anticipation for Michael Keaton’s on-screen reunion with Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara for Beetlejuice 2 was already high, especially after critics praised the film as “whimsically macabre” (our own Mike Reyes agreed in CinemaBlend’s review of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, calling it a hysterical return to form”). The film’s actual performance met the high end of its box office expectations with $110 million.
That wasn’t quite enough to knock Stephen King out of the record books, with IT: Chapter One holding onto the title of best September opening ($123 million), but Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s premiere is impressive all the same, especially when compared to the original. Back in 1988 Beetlejuice made just $8 million (not adjusted for inflation) on its opening weekend but went on to gross $77 million during its run ($195 million when adjusted for inflation). We’ll have to see how long it takes the sequel to beat those numbers.
This time around, the ghost with the most will have the help of an international audience. The first movie was not released globally, so while there may not be as much of a nostalgic pull for moviegoers around the world, they still contributed an extra $35.4 million to Beetlejuice 2’s bottom line.
The movie seems well on its way to making its money back. The budget for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a reported $100 million before marketing, but there was definitely a lot of dough spent on promoting the sequel. The cast traveled around the world for the press tour, with Jenna Ortega paying homage to the original movie in an amazing way through her fashion.
Speaking of Jenna Ortega, while many of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice audience members may have been excited to dip back into that late ‘80s nostalgia, Ortega may have helped to attract a younger demographic. The actress is certainly killing it in the genre with her previous projects Wednesday and Scream, not to mention teaming up with Sabrina Carpenter for a goth-themed music video.
The only other new wide release this week belonged to The Front Room, an A24 horror movie starring Brandy. Early predictions had the movie earning around $5 million, but finished with a disappointing $1.7 million. In addition to competing with Michael Keaton’s demon, The Front Room saw a less-than-stellar critical reception, earning just 51% from Rotten Tomatoes and a C- from CinemaScore.
Reagan Shows Signs Of Life, As It Ends With Us Crosses Big Milestone
Reagan, the biographical drama starring Dennis Quaid as former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, got off to a slow start last week, earning just $7.4 million over the first three days of the holiday weekend to finish fourth overall. In its second weekend, though, it pulled in a respectable $5.2 million for a 10-day total of $18.5 million. That’s a drop of just 32% week-over-week as it rose to No. 3 at the box office.
It’s possible that Reagan is the beneficiary of positive word-of-mouth advertising. The movie holds a pretty dismal 20% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes; however, the audience seems to be telling a different story, as it boasts a 98% on the Popcornmeter. It’s graded an A on CinemaScore, signaling that there may be time still to make back that $25 million pre-marketing budget.
It Ends with Us also got some good news as the Blake Lively book-to-movie adaptation reached its fifth weekend in theaters. The drama, which stayed in the middle of the pack with another $3.8 million in the United States and Canada, crossed the $300 million mark globally, earning a total $309.4 million worldwide. That puts it at No. 15 overall, just behind Alien: Romulus ($314.4 million), for 2024 releases worldwide.
After Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had such an impressive opening weekend, I’m interested to see what kind of run it can have in theaters, particularly with more horror movies to compete with in coming weeks. On Friday, September 13, for instance, the James McAvoy-led horror Speak No Evil will premiere, though its R rating may be a deterrent for those looking to enjoy spooky season with the younger members of their families. Check back next week to see how it all plays out!
