This Halloween, the box office saw a significant downturn, making it the worst weekend in 2025. With Halloween festivities and sports events capturing audiences’ attention, films like “Regretting You” and “Black Phone 2” struggled to make a mark despite leading the charts. This article delves into the factors contributing to the downturn and analyzes the performances of notable releases.
The Chill in Halloween Ticket Sales
The spooky holiday largely kept families away from theaters, coinciding with a Friday trick-or-treat. Another distraction occurred with Saturday’s Major League Baseball championships, where the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. As a result, box office revenues from Friday to Sunday slumped to just $43 million, marking the worst weekend performance of the year, according to Comscore.
Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian, noted, “The industry is in dire need of a boost [after] this scary-slow World Series-impacted, Halloween-festivity-laden weekend. It’s emblematic of what has been a quiet post-summer moviegoing corridor.”
October‘s Record Low
This plummet in box office success closed out the lowest-grossing October in 27 years, with domestic earnings stalling at $425 million. This marks the poorest haul since October 1997, excluding the pandemic-stricken year of 2020. Historically, October is when studios begin releasing potential Oscar contenders, but this year, neither award hopefuls nor big-budget films were able to generate significant interest.
Top Performers Struggling
In an unexpected turn, “Regretting You” topped the box office with $8.1 million from 3,424 theaters in its second week, narrowly edging out Universal‘s “Black Phone 2,” which earned $8 million from 3,305 venues. Final figures could shift as numbers are confirmed.
While “Regretting You” saw a 41% decline from its debut, it accumulated $27.5 million in North America and $50 million globally, against its $30 million budget. “Black Phone 2” achieved $61 million domestically and $104 million globally, marking it as the year’s closest Blumhouse release to reach the $100 million mark.
Other Notable Releases
Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” re-release is estimated to tie for third place with Sony and Crunchyroll’s “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc,” both grossing about $6 million over the weekend. Projections for “KPop Demon Hunters” came from rival studios since Netflix did not report grosses.
Further down the list, “Bugonia,” featuring Emma Stone, earned $4.8 million as it expanded nationwide. Meanwhile, classic films like “Back to the Future” and “The Twilight Saga” saw re-releases, contributing additional millions in anniversary celebrations.
The upcoming weeks promise major releases, including Disney’s “Predator: Badlands” and the heist film “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” aiming to revitalize box office performance, especially as the holiday season approaches with highly anticipated films like “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
Looking ahead, Dergarabedian stated, “Early November releases will be most welcome, but mid-November through New Year’s Eve will be vitally important [for] the industry.”
