Michael Myers is unkillable.

2018’s Halloween helped revive the slasher by opening to a whopping $78M at the box office. Its successor, this weekend’s Halloween Kills, opened in the midst of a pandemic and an even more unsure box office, while also competing with itself on SVOD platform Peacock. Even with a 39% on Rotten Tomatoes (72% audience score), the latest sequel still managed an astounding $50.35M in 3,705 locations.

It is the biggest debut of a horror film during the pandemic era that opened in theaters the same day as streaming. It’s also worth noting that we don’t know how much Peacock paid Universal Pictures for the streaming rights, which likely puts this into another stratosphere. Everyone involved has to be excited to get back behind the camera for Halloween Ends.

Meagan Navarro reviewed the film, writing that “Halloween Kills carves up a gruesome old school slasher… for better and worse.”

“Halloween Kills begins when Michael manages to free himself from Laurie’s trap, his ritual bloodbath resumes. As Laurie fights her pain and prepares to defend herself against him, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster. The Strode women join a group of other survivors of Michael’s first rampage who decide to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all. Evil dies tonight.”

As for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Sony’s sequel added another $16.5M for a $168.07M North American total. It also absorbed a whopping $62M more internationally for a monstrous $283M global take. It’s a far cry from the first film’s $856M but there’s still time.

Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting that Venom: Let There Be Carnage “hits the ground running and doesn’t stop for the brisk 90-minute runtime. It’s the perfect runtime for a rom-com, but as a superhero movie, it gets sloppy.”

She continues, “But it’s hard not to be charmed by Venom attempting to cheer up his host with a lavish breakfast and pep talks. Or a dose of self-love and acceptance in the form of a confessional mic drop at a costume party. If you’re in the mood for silly, this sequel nails it. But for an epic showdown among monsters, it lacks bite.”

Tom Hardy is back as Eddie Brock, who is of course also the alien symbiote known as Venom. Woody Harrelson, who popped up as Cletus Kasady in the first film’s post-credits scene, ultimately becomes Carnage in the film. Michelle Williams is also back in the upcoming sequel to the smash-hit movie from 2018, with Naomie Harris co-starring as Shriek.