Yahoo Movies Which film will win the Halloween horror box office battle?
It's all about killer clowns and forced smiles at the UK box office over 2024's spooky season, with Terrifier 3 and Smile 2 among the films battling it out.
October is always a crucial battleground for the world of horror cinema. After all, Halloween is the spookiest time of year and the best time to sit with a group of strangers in a dark room to scare yourself silly. Fortunately, the Halloween 2024 multiplex schedule has delivered some really fascinating horror movies and horror-adjacent blockbusters.
But which of these freaky films will stand tall at the box office when the trick or treat sweets have all been scoffed and the pumpkins have been cleared from our doorways? Let's have a look at the spooky big-hitters in October and decide which will emerge as the undisputed leader of the splatter pack.
So prepare for more than one murderous clown, a terrifying grin, and the last hurrah of Tom Hardy's growly, head-biting symbiote.
Joker: Folie à Deux
The sequel to 2019's Joker isn't a horror movie, but it was clearly positioned to be the movie that would dominate October at the box office. Warner Bros even decided to release Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — the most obvious Halloween bet of all time — in September in order to give Joker free road at the multiplex this month.
Read more: Joker 2 sets unwanted record with box office collapse (Digital Spy)
But, bizarrely, Joker: Folie à Deux has been a failure. It scored a dismal D rating from audiences polled via CinemaScore and has struggled to make any sort of impact at the box office, having tried to conceal its status as a musical from audiences. In fact, it has been dethroned at the US box office by a much less famous killer clown.
Terrifier 3
In 2016, Art the Clown seemed to come out of nowhere. As the wordless, brutal star of Damien Leone's cult horror movie Terrifier, he quickly won a devoted hardcore of fans. The ultra-gory film earned a sequel in 2022, which saw Art — played with terrifying aplomb by David Howard Thornton — up the ante in terms of violence, while the story delved into the surprisingly complex supernatural lore of the killer.
Read more: 10 truly terrifying facts about the Terrifier movies (BANG Showbiz)
Now, Terrifier 3 has secured the franchise's biggest mainstream release to date, with multiplexes all over the world showcasing the genuinely shocking gore that has become Leone's hallmark as a filmmaker. The film debuted to $18.3m (£14m) in the US, surpassing the entire gross of its predecessor in just one weekend.
Terrifier 3 is unlikely to top the October box office when all is said and done, but it managed to unseat Joker from the summit of the US charts in only the DC movie's second week of release. That's an incredible achievement for a film with a total budget that likely wouldn't have even paid for a day of Joker's production.
Smile 2
The 2022 horror movie Smile was the rarest of things at the blockbuster end of this genre: a genuinely original and genuinely scary film. Smile 2 continues the tale of the chilling, violent curse from the first movie, with Aladdin actor Naomi Scott this time stepping into the lead role as pop star Skye Riley. She's about to go on a world tour, but finds that complicated by the terrifying machinations of the curse.
Read more: Horror fans lured into watching Smile 2 after ‘genius’ casting of Hollywood actor’s son (The Independent)
Smile was a major box office hit, earning $217m (£166m) worldwide. Everything suggests its sequel will do just as well, if not better, with pre-release tracking suggesting a debut weekend between $25m (£19m) and $35m (£27m). When it comes to pure horror, Smile 2 looks like the Halloween frontrunner for this year.
Salem's Lot
This new Stephen King adaptation, directed by prolific horror screenwriter and Annabelle Comes Home director Gary Dauberman, is a bit of a curious case. In the States, it has been released directly to the streaming service Max. On these shores, though, it's a cinema release with a decent-sized multiplex presence. After all, it's a horror film and it's October.
Read more: Stephen King and the battle for the perfect adaptation (Yahoo Entertainment)
By not going ahead with a US cinema release, Warner Bros has ensured that this take on King's beloved vampire tale — which previously came to the small screen in both 1979 and 2004 — will not feature at the top of the Halloween box office. But if you're looking for Halloween horror to watch, it's definitely an option.
Venom: The Last Dance
It might not be pure horror, but there are definitely spooky elements to the Venom franchise. Arriving in cinemas at the end of October, Venom: The Last Dance — sold as the final entry in the franchise — could dominate the final week of the month. Tom Hardy is back as Eddie Brock and the symbiote with a taste for human heads who shares his body.
Read more: We've got our best look yet at the Venom frog, and it will haunt your nightmares (Total Film)
Kelly Marcel is stepping from the scriptwriter role to the director's chair this time around, with almighty symbiote creator Knull on villain duties — possibly bringing in elements of the epic 2020 comic book arc King in Black.
Given the previous Venom movies have made $856m (£656m) and $507m (£388m) at the worldwide box office, this one will almost certainly be one of the year's biggest hits. Critics might not be big Venom fans, but audiences love the symbiote action. This Halloween, it might be just what the doctor ordered.
