Movies
‘Terminator’s’ Dark Box Office Fate: Post-Halloween Roundup
Terminator: Dark Fate (review) had an abysmal box office opening despite many critics calling it the best since James Cameron’s Judgment Day. The Tim Miller-directed followup that retcons all other sequels won the weekend with an estimated $29M, lackluster considering expectations. Even worse, and unlike Terminator Genisys, it looks like China won’t be saving the film from its dark fate.
Tencent, which provided 10% co-financing, is handling distribution in China, explains TheWrap who added that the film performed well below expectations in China with just $28 million grossed. With $44 million grossed in other overseas territories, the global opening for Dark Fate stands at $101.9 million (Exhibitor Relations pegs it at $94M worldwide).
The site adds that the silver lining for Paramount is that it is only on the books for 30% of the film’s $185 million budget. Skydance and 20th Century Fox each provided 30% co-financing with Fox handling overseas distribution.
No matter, this is hugely disappointing on all fronts and could spell the end of the franchise for good.
Two weeks ago, Columbia Pictures’ Zombieland: Double Tap (review) opened to an estimated $26.72M domestically. This is on par with the 2009 Zombieland that opened to $24.7M. The difference here is double the budget with a reported $40M spent. With the film adding another $7.3M domestic and $7M overseas this weekend, it’s currently sitting at approximately $86M globally. I previously wrote that Double Tap could hit $100M worldwide, which would be enough for the sequel to break even.
Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Abigail Breslin return in Ruben Fleischer‘s sequel that also introduces Zoey Deutch, Avan Jogia, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch and Rosario Dawson.
In this next installment, through comic mayhem that stretches from the White House and through the heartland, the zombie slayers must face off against many new kinds of zombies that have evolved since the first movie, as well as some new human survivors. But most of all, they have to face the growing pains of their own snarky, makeshift family
Speaking of the $100M landmark, The Addams Family (read our review), a prequel of sorts that tell the origins of the family moving into their spooky mansion, had another impressive showing. The animated retelling added another $8.4M for a domestic take of $85M. With $11M reported internationally (and more to come this weekend), $100M is all but certain on a film that cost just $25M. This is a massive hit and, as I reported a few weekends ago, a sequel is on the horizon (dated for 2021).
In the film, Charlize Theron voices Morticia Addams and Oscar Isaac is voicing Gomez Addams, with Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday Addams. The cast also includes Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley Addams, Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, Bette Midler as Grandmama, Allison Janney as Margaux Needler, and Elsie Fisher as Parker Needler, the daughter of Margaux.
Warner Bros. gutsy new take on Joker (read our review), the Todd Phillips-directed spinoff that stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character, continues to be a smash, adding $13M more domestically and $37M overseas. Sitting at $934M globally, $1B is currently in sight – there is no world in which we don’t get some sort of “sequel” out of Phillips and Warner Bros.
Disney’s PG horror-adjacent Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (review) that also starred Angelina Jolie in the title role added $12.1M domestic and $40M more overseas. Carrying a reported budget of $185M (wiki), it has a long way to go to break even, although I’m sure Disney could care less given that this will be solid content for their soon-to-launch Disney+ app. The first film managed over $750M globally, but the sequel really “only” has to make $500M+ to break even. It currently sits at $383M worldwide.
In specialty releases, The Witch director Robert Eggers‘ The Lighthouse (review) added $2M in 978 theaters. It currently sits at only $7M. The film stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, pictured below, as two lighthouse keepers losing their grip on reality.
Also, Neon’s critically acclaimed Parasite (review) added $2.6M for a total of $7.5M in only 461 theaters. Impressive for a foreign language specialty release. Bong Joon-ho’s film follows the all-unemployed Ki-taek’s family who takes a peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
Lastly, André Øvredal‘s Guillermo del Toro-produced Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was released back in 1,500 theaters in the States last weekend through Halloween in hopes of surpassing $100M. While it didn’t crack the landmark, the $96M global take is still an impressive total for the film that came out of the gates slow. A sequel is possible, although the closing of CBS Films could impact any movement.
In Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, “It’s 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind…but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time—stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying tome.”
That’s it for Halloween 2019! How many of these films did you catch in theaters? What did you think of them?
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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