Halloween Ends Tops Opening Weekend Box Office but Fails To Meet Projections

Halloween Ends is coming in short of expectations even as it secures the top spot in its opening weekend at the box office. The third and final installment of the rebooted Halloween trilogy will earn around $43.4 million in its first three days, more than $10 million shy of its $55 million projections. The gap between reality and projections may be the result of Halloween Ends debuting simultaneously on Peacock to stream at home. However, despite underperforming, the film is still more than recouping its $30 million budget, which should count as a win on the studios' box office scorecard.

Halloween Ends is struggling with critics and audiences. It has a C+ CinemaScore and a rotten 39% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where's its critics' consensus reads, "Halloween Ends -- for now, anyway -- with a frequently befuddling installment that's stabbed, slashed, and beaten by a series of frustrating missed opportunities." ComicBook.com's Patrick Cavanaugh gave the film a 2-out-of-5 score in his review. He writes:

"In 1963, a young boy mysteriously murdered his sister. 15 years later, he escaped a mental institution and terrorized his hometown. 40 years later, he was let loose on the town once again, not only delivering a staggering number of deaths, but also surviving gunshots, stabbings, bludgeonings, and even a fiery inferno. Halloween Ends attempts to use a current-day story to explain how such a thing was possible, yet only ever feels like a rough draft. Halloween deserves better, Laurie deserves better, and even Michael Myers, a ruthless serial killer, somehow deserves better than what was offered in Halloween Ends."

Halloween Ends is now playing in theaters and is streaming on Peacock. A full list of the top 10 films at the box office this weekend is currently in the works.