Halloween Ends Underperforms in Opening Weekend at the Box Office

Halloween Ends will come up short of expectations in its opening weekend at the box office, even as it secures the top spot on this weekend's chart. The third installment of the rebooted Halloween trilogy will earn $41.2 million in its first weekend, almost $15 million shy of its $55 million projections, with some blaming the shortfall on the film's simultaneous debut on Peacock to stream at home. Despite coming in below expectations, Halloween Ends is still more than recouping its $30 million budget, an important marker for the studios involved.

Halloween Ends has struggled with critics and audiences. It received a C+ CinemaScore and has 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 follows.