Smile 2 all smiles at the US box office

After Terrifier 3, a new horror film takes the lead in the American rankings.

Horror films follow one another and are similar at the US box office. A week after the box Terrify 3who achieved the feat of dethroning Joker 2it's the turn of Smile 2 to show a big smile.

With an opening weekend of $23 million across the Atlantic, the sequel to Paramount's psychological thriller achieved a convincing launch, in the vein of the first part which started at $22.6 million in 2022. Initially planned for streaming, smile had become a surprise success with $217 million in worldwide revenue, launching a new franchise.

Directed again by Parker Finn, Smile 2 cost 28 million dollars and is already reaching nearly 50 million dollars in worldwide revenue after a few days, riding on positive reviews and a very favorable momentum for the horror genre in this month of October.

Terrify 3 thus remains on the podium with 10 million dollars for its second weekend (down 52%). The ultra-gory, low-budget horror film has already grossed $36 million worldwide. Art the clown is already doing better than at the time of Terrify 2 (15.7 million in 2022).

Violence pays, except for Joker: Folie à Deux which plunges to 6th place. For its third weekend, the Warner Bros. film. now takes only $2.18 million in 2,857 theaters and is shaping up to be a disaster at the box office: $56.4 million in the United States and $192 million worldwide so far. Light years away from the first billionaire part.

To find a little sweetness, you have to look at Universal and DreamWorks Animation. The Wild Robot remains in second place with $10 million for its fourth weekend. The family tale has amassed $101.7 million in the United States and approximately $160 million worldwide at present.

We will also note in this US box office the impressive start of Love in the present (released January 22, 2025 in France). The romantic drama which brings together Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh begins in 5th place in the ranking with 4.1 million dollars. A very good score for a limited release, in only 955 theaters.

Anora did even better: Sean Baker's 2024 Palme d'Or (which will be released on October 30 in France) collected $540,000 in only… 6 cinemas, in Los Angeles and New York. A very limited release, but which allows the film to earn a ratio of $90,000 per theater, i.e. the best per screen average of the year and the second highest per screen average since COVID (behind Asteroid City by Wes Anderson)!