Box Office: 'Smile 2' Laughs With $23M Opening, 'Anora' Jolts Awards Race Awake

Paramount and Temple Hill are smiling widely.

their new movie, Smile 2won the domestic box office race with an estimated $23 million from 3,619 theaters, including Imax and other premium large-format screens. This will put the debut of the film ahead of the first one smileA sleeper hit that opened in late September 2022 to $22.6 million is on track to gross over $217 million worldwide against a $17 million budget.

Overseas, the sequel similarly took in $23 million.

With writer and director Parker Finn returning, the sequel follows a malevolent spirit that wreaks havoc on the hosts with an uncanny laugh, this time infecting a troubled pop star (Naomi Scott) and unleashing a lot of her trauma, according to The Hollywood ReporterReview of the film. Scott stars opposite Lucas Gage, Rosemary DeWitt and Miles Gutierrez-Reilly. The budget for the sequel was $28 million, still a modest amount for a major studio film.

Smile 2 Earned a B CinemaScore from audiences compared to the first film which received a B-. It had to fend off competition from holdover slasher films Terrible 3which opened last weekend to $18.9 million, despite no ratings and zero TV advertising.

Terrible 3From Cineverse, just north of $9 million from 2,762 theaters this weekend, a solid hold and third for its domestic total of $36 million against a $2 million production budget.

Some are speculating that DreamWorks/Universal wild robot benefiting from Terrible 3 As theaters will not allow anyone under 17 to see the latter unless accompanied by an adult. (Exhibitors are treating it like an R-rated movie.) Rival studios suspect that teenagers are buying tickets to watch. wild robot And then hide in Terrible 3 (The same may be true for Smile 2which is rated R).

whatever, wild robotWhich is also available at home via premium VOD, has bragging rights to take second place in its fourth weekend as it crosses the $100 million mark domestically after earning another $10 million from 3,829 theaters for $101.7 million and $196 million worldwide through Sunday.

John Crowley's Romantic Drama We live in time After opening in just a handful of cities last weekend it made news by climbing to the fifth spot on the charts as it successfully platformed in 985 theaters. Andrew Garfield-Florence Pugh earned $4.2 million from 985 locations. The A24 will be widened We live in time Everywhere next weekend.

Sean Baker headlined the awards box office Anorawhich opened six locations in New York and Los Angeles. Neon's special follows a sex worker who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch. The feature won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Anora Posted an estimated $90,000 per theater, the best showing since Wes Anderson. Asteroid City Last year and in the top five of the last five years.

“Baker is a solo director who truly understands the power of the theatrical experience and how important it is to see films in theaters. In his incomparable performance with Mikey Madison AnoraAnd with the film's strong awards potential, there's no doubt it will continue to captivate a wide audience as we head into fall,” said Elisa Federoff, head of Neon distribution.

Last weekend, some rival Oscar contenders didn't fare so well when opting for a platform release vs. a nationwide opening, including Jason Reitman. saturday night. Donald Trump biopic apprentice Dropped out of the top 10 in its second weekend.

October 20, 8:00 am: Updated with revised estimates.

This story was originally published at 9:35 a.m. on Oct. 20