Halloween Opening Weekend Looks to Break Franchise Record

Halloween on track for a very profitable opening weekend

Director David Gordon Green’s upcoming Halloween is on track for a record-setting opening weekend for the long-running franchise, per a report from Variety. Though Universal Pictures has been lowballing its expectations with a $50 million box office forecast, early reports are putting the more likely number at somewhere between $65 and $70 million.

That number will be spread between almost 4,000 screens in the U.S., as well as 21 international territories on its opening weekend. The film’s budget was reported around $10 million. No other major studio release is opening this weekend, so its serious competition is limited to Venom and A Star is Born, both of which opened in theaters two weeks ago. Previously, the 2007 Rob Zombie remake holds the record for the biggest opening weekend of the franchise with $26 million.

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Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago. Curtis is joined in the film by Judy Greer who plays Karen Strode, the daughter of Curtis’ character, and Andi Matichak (Orange Is the New Black, Underground) who plays Allyson, the granddaughter of Laurie Strode.

The upcoming sequel film will be ignoring the continuity of all of the sequels in favor of telling its own story. Curtis previously appeared in four films in the series, including the 1978 original, its 1981 sequel, 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, and Resurrection.

Master of horror John Carpenter will executive produce and serve as creative consultant on this film, joining forces with cinema’s current leading producer of horror, Jason Blum (Get Out, Split, The Purge, Paranormal Activity). Inspired by Carpenter’s classic, filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride crafted a story that carves a new path from the events in the landmark 1978 film. Green also directs.

The film will hit the theaters on October 19.