“Smile 2 ”debuts to gleeful $46 million globally, while “Anora” dazzles in limited release

"The Wild Robot," "Terrifier 3," and "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" are still holding strong.

Smile 2 is unleashing its infectious grin on moviegoers across the country with a bloody successful debut.

The horror sequel, a followup to 2022’s Smile, arrived to a solid $23 million at the weekend box office, snagging the No. 1 spot amid an otherwise quiet weekend at North American theaters. Per Comscore, the psychological thriller found similar success abroad where it earned another $23 million for a global total of $46 million.

Helmed by Parker Finn, the film stars Naomi Scott as a pop singer who witnesses a series of disturbing events as she embarks on tour. As fans of the first film know all too well, those frightening moments all link back to a sinister smile that is transferred from person to person and promises to leave tragedy in its wake.

Related: Smile 2 director cast Jack Nicholson's son in homage to The Shining: 'Looks exactly like Jack'

While the premise is initially quite similar to that of the first film, Finn told Entertainment Weekly that homemade an intentional effort to take the story in an unexpected direction.

"I wanted to raise the question, ‘Did we do this to Skye?’ By us coming back for a Smile 2, have we done this to her?" Finn said of Scott’s character. "When I started thinking about ideas, early on, any of the ideas that started coming to me in the first month I was thinking about it, I threw them away. If I'm coming up with these too quickly, they're too obvious; it's too expected. I wanted to push for something where people would be like, 'I can't believe this is where Smile went.'"

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Evidently, not all moviegoers were looking to embrace the darkness this weekend. Some opted for lighthearted whimsy a la The Wild Robot. Despite the film now being available for purchase across several streaming platforms, the animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s children's novel earned another $10.1 million domestically for a total of $101.7 million. Abroad, the film snagged $23 million for a global total of $193 million.

The lighthearted animated feature, which follows a shipwrecked robot who befriends a forest full of animals, hails from Chris Sanders, the filmmaker behind such beloved hits as Lilo & Stitch, The Croods, and How to Train Your Dragon. Talent-wise, Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o offers the voice of abandoned robot Roz, joined by a star-studded voice cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames.

A clown with no ties to the DC universe has claimed the No. 3 spot: Art the Clown is continuing his reign of terror with Terrifier 3. The independently-made surrealist horror film has grossed another $9.3 million towards its $36.2 million domestic total. Abroad, the film picked up just $3 million for a global tally of $44.8 million.

While this may seem a small sum just two weeks into its run, the gory slasher film has already surpassed the box office haul of its predecessor, Terrifier 2, which topped off at $10 million domestically and $15.7 million globally. With this yield, Terrifier 3 is continuing a successful trend for the franchise, which multiplies its audience with each additional movie. Meanwhile, Joker: Folie à Deux didn't crack the Top 5 domestically, earning just $2.2 million during its third weekend in theaters.

Related: Terrifier 3 director reveals what's next for Art the Clown after movie's shocking finale

Much like The Wild Robot, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is still finding an audience in theaters despite being available on digital platforms. The Tim Burton-helmed sequel may have dropped 32 percent from last weekend, but is still clinging to the No. 4 spot by adding another $5 million to its $283.9 million domestic total ($434.5 million globally).

Picking up three decades after the 1988 classic, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sees Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, and Michael Keaton reprising their roles for another trek through the Afterlife. This time Jenna Ortega joins the gang as Astrid, the rebellious daughter of Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, who accidentally finds herself trapped in the land of the undead.

Rounding out the Top 5 is We Live in Time, the tear jerking love story that sees Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield showing off their rom-com chops. During its second week in theaters — after a limited initial release — the film earned $4.1 million towards its domestic total of $4.5 million ($4.8 million globally). The R-rated romantic drama sees an up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée brought together by a far-from-romantic first encounter. But against all odds, they embark on a life-changing love story.

But despite the swoon-worthy romance promised by the premise, the film also crosses over into tragic territory as their romance is tested by the limits of time.

"It was a gift," Garfield told EW of his experience making the film. "Grief is a gift. That's one of the beauties of this film — it frames grief as one of the only access points to true love. There's no way of experiencing connection to life until we understand and experience a connection to death. It's the reclamation of grief as a gift, as a reminder of knowing of how much you loved and how much you continue to love. All of the unexpressed love is what grief manifests."

Though Anora didn’t earn enough to crack the Top 5, the awards contender and film-festival darling also debuted in theaters this weekend, managing an impressive $540,000 debut in just six theaters. The film has been praised as an audacious modern Cinderella story after winning the Palme d’Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The latest from Tangerine and Red Rocket filmmaker Sean Baker stars Mikey Madison as Ani, a young sex worker from Brooklyn whose life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries Vanya, the son of a Russian billionaire.

“I love tonal jumps. I love roller coasters,” Baker told EW while reflecting on Anora's story, which oscillates between drama, comedy, and high-octane action. “It is scary, though. It does throw an audience off sometimes if suddenly they're slapped with a tonal shift that they’re not used to, so you have to do it delicately. But I was very interested in covering different genres with this movie."

Anora is set to expand into wide release on Nov. 8.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.