Coming off the usual weak September, October showed a modest uplift. A transition month, that mainly offered tonally dark movies in the build up to Halloween, the lack of variety in globally released movies and a poor Golden Week in China prevented more significant growth of the global box office.
The global box office of $2.1 billion in October ranked 8th among the past 12 months. The gap is nearly a third (-32%) compared to the average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019), ranking it 9th on this metric among the past 12 months.
After 10 months the total global box office is estimated to have reached $25.4 billion for 2024. The running year is now -12% below the same period in 2023 and +18% above the one in 2022. The gap to the three-year benchmark is at -22%.
On this month’s Global Box Office Tracker (GBOT, above), the stacked bar graph on the left shows total box office levels split out by the three key global markets: Domestic, China and International (excluding China). The pie chart indicates the current deficit compared to the average of the three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019) and where those losses are currently coming from. The bar graph on the bottom right displays the percentage drops globally.
In October a few global new releases and one main holdover title determined the box office.
The highest grossing global release in October was the third entry in Sony’s successful VENOM franchise. Just one week after release, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE generated approximately $230 million within the month. That is already higher than the lifetime results of MORBIUS ($167m) and MADAME WEB ($101m). It will very likely finish above BLACK ADAM ($393m), AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM ($439m) and TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS ($442m) but stay slightly below VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE ($501m) and a bit more below the first instalment from 2018, which grossed $856 million.
The second highest grossing movie in October was another sequel to a superhero villain, Warner Bros’ JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX, with approximately $203 million in the month. That is already more than the lifetime of THE SUICIDE SQUAD ($169m) from 2021 and FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA ($174m) earlier this year. JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX is ending in the ballpark of BIRDS OF PREY ($206m) and THE MARVELS ($206m). As with that latter title this is a steep drop from the $1 billion+ heights of the initial instalments of the character, as JOKER made $1.08 billion and CAPTAIN MARVEL $1.13 billion in 2019.
As the main animated movie of the month, Dreamworks’ THE WILD ROBOT added approximately $191 million in October for a $248 million cume. That is already higher than prior fall season animated releases like ABOMINABLE ($190m), TROLLS BAND TOGETHER ($209m) and SMALLFOOT ($218m). It also overtook the lifetime of THE BAD GUYS ($252m) and WISH ($255m) at the beginning of November. Given the current performance THE WILD ROBOT will also outgross MIGRATION ($300m) and end around the lifetime total of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ($320m), a bit below INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE ($376m).
Horror sequel SMILE 2 from Paramount generated approximately $96 million in October. That is above the lifetime of recent genre entries like SPEAK NO EVIL ($76m) and TRAP ($83m). It will very likely end around the lifetimes of 2022’s SCREAM ($138m) and last year’s EXORCIST: BELIEVER ($137m), a bit below EVIL DEAD RISE ($147m) and THE BLACK PHONE ($161m), and further away from the $217 million breakout success of the first SMILE two years ago.
The surprise breakout of this October was independent horror slasher sequel TERRIFIER 3 with an incredible $66 million on a reported $2 million production budget. This is already four times the result of TERRIFIER 2 ($16m). It looks like it will finish in the ballpark of SAW X ($113m) and HALLOWEEN ENDS ($104m), a bit below LONGLEGS ($121m).
Neck-and-neck with Art the Clown, holdover BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, from Warner Bros, added approximately $70 million in October for a cume of $445 million. It’s currently the 4th highest grossing Domestic release so far this year ($290m) and ranks #7 globally. It clearly outgrossed the recent Tim Burton releases of DUMBO ($353m), ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS ($300m), MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN ($297m) and DARK SHADOWS ($246m). It’s nearing the end of its run after two months in release and will end a bit below IT: CHAPTER 2 ($473m), which reigned the same release window in 2019.
