The Film Experience

What did you see over the weekend? We skipped new releases to see And Then We Danced (Sweden's soulful deserving Oscar submission) a second time and to catch up with Gaspar Noe's insane dance/drug film Climax on Amazon Prime. The full box office chart after the jump with a few notes...

Weekend Box Office October 25-27 (ACTUALS) 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
WIDE RELEASE (800+ screens)	PLATFORM TITLES

1 MALEFICENT MISTRESS OF EVIL $19.3 (cum. $66.2)	1 🔺 THE LIGHTHOUSE $3.2 on 586 screens (cum. $3.6) REVIEW ★


2 JOKER $19.2 (CUM $277.9) REVIEW, PRODUCTION DESIGN	2 🔺 PARASITE $1.8 on 129 screens (cum. $4.1) PODCAST, BEST OF TIFF ★


3 THE ADDAMS FAMILY $12 (cum. $73.1)	3 🔺 JOJO RABBIT $1 on 55 screens (cum. $1.5) TIFF WIN


4 ZOMBIELAND DOUBLE TAP $11.8 (cum. $47.2) REVIEW	4 🔺 HOUSEFULL 4... $904k on 315 screens new


5 🔺 COUNTDOWN $8.8 new	5 🔺 JESUS IS KING $862k on 372 screens new


6 🔺 BLACK AND BLUE $8.3 new	6 🔺 WESTERN STARS $560k on 537 screens new


7 GEMINI MAN $4 (cum. $43.4) REVIEW	7 🔺 PAIN & GLORY $398k on 117 screens (cum. $1.6) REVIEW, PODCAST, TV SPOT ★


8 🔺 THE CURRENT WAR $2.6 new REVIEW	8 LINDA RONSTADT... $146k on 134 screens (cum. $3.7) REVIEW


9 ABOMINABLE $2 (cum. $56.9)	9 THE CAPTAIN $120k on 39 screens (cum. $580k)


10 DOWNTON ABBEY $1.9 (cum. $92.2) COSTUMES, MAGGIE SMITH ★	10 🔺 FANTASTIC FUNGI $60k on 14 screens (cum. $284k)


11 JUDY $1.2 (cum. $21.5) PODCAST, QUICK TAKE, BEST ACTRESS	11 WHERE'S MY ROY COHN? $50k on 51 screens (cum. $581k)


12 HUSTLERS... $856k (cum. $103.5) REVIEW, SOUNDTRACK, COSTUMES ★	12 🔺 NO SAFE SPACES $45k on 1 screen new


13 IT CHAPTER TWO $683k (cum. $210.7) REVIEW, PODCAST ★	13 OFFICIAL SECRETS $22k ON 45 screens (cum. $1.9) REVIEW


14 🔺 ONCE UPON A TIME... $555k (cum. $140.4) REVIEW, PODCAST ★	14 🔺 FRANKIE $19k on 4 screens new INTERVIEW ★


15 🔺 SCARY STORIES TO TELL... $534k (cum. $68.7)	15 🔺 SYNONYMS $17k on 2 screens new REVIEW, INTERVIEW ★

A few notes

• Though Joker was initially reported to have regained its #1 position, that reporting was hasty and Maleficent has actually held on to the #1 position for a second week (a close call with just $100,000 separating them).

• Both Scary Stories... and Once Upon a Time... reupped their screen counts by 1000+ screens hoping to capitalize on the horror movie season and 10 minutes of unseen footage respectively to about a half million extra dollars in both cases. Decent but not exciting as increased revenue went.

• Parasite and JoJo Rabbit continue to do very strong business in limited release which bodes well for their already promising Oscar campaigns. Pain and Glory took its first hit, though, down a few percentage points in its 4th week. Regardless, it's shaping up to be Almodóvar's biggest hit this decade in the US and is already is that worldwide with $31 million already)

• The Lighthouse made the top ten overall, an impressive feat considering it hasn't even gone wide at under 600 screens. Meanwhile the doc No Safe Spaces, a conservative-minded doc about free speech on college campuses had the strongest per screen average albeit on only one screen.

• Frankie and Synonyms, two films we like here at TFE, got lost in the shuffle somewhat in their very limited opening weekends.

Next week will be very crowded marketplace as November begins. There are over a dozen small indie releases and four new wide releases, too: Terminator Dark Fate, Arctic Dogs, Harriet, and Motherless Brooklyn .