By Ben Miller
Unsurprisingly, horror films released in October rule the box office. Smile was able to snag the top spot behind a viral marketing campaign and a better-than-average critical recepiton (77% on Rotten Tomatoes). Unfortunately, the big story of the box office week was the failure of Bros. The Billy Eichner-starring film earned less than $5 million despite an A CinemaScore and critical praise (91% on RT). Plenty of people on Twitter have their opinions on the failure, but maybe we should let the film continue it's run before deeming it a failure. Regardless of the opening weekend, this doesn't bode well for the viability of LGBTQ+ studio content going forward.
| Weekend Box Office September 30th-October 2nd 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 SMILE |
 PONNIYIN SELVAN |
| 1 🔺 SMILE $22.6 *NEW* | 1 🔺 PONNIYIN SELVAN $4 *NEW* |
| 2 DON'T WORRY DARLING $6.84 (cum. $32.3) | 2 🔺 VIKRAM VEDHA $986k *NEW* |
| 3 ★ THE WOMAN KING $6.82 (cum. $46.5) | 3 ★ MOONAGE DAYDREAM (doc) $855k (cum. $3.43) |
| 4 ★ AVATAR (re-release) $5 (cum. $18.9) | 4 🔺 SUPERSPREADER $289k *NEW* |
| 5 ★🔺 BROS $4.85 *NEW* | 5 🔺 BRAHMASTRA PART ONE: SHIVA $121k *NEW* |
 BROS |
 RUNNING THE BASES |
| 6 BARBARIAN $4.8 (cum. $28.4) | 6 RUNNING THE BASES $116k (cum. $1.27) |
|
7 BULLET TRAIN $1.3 (cum. $101) |
7 CUANDO SEA JOVEN $92k (cum. $453k) |
| 8 DC LEAGUE OF SUPER PETS $1.2 (cum. $91.6) | 8 🔺 VESPER $22k *NEW* |
| 9 ★ TOP GUN MAVERICK $1.19 (cum. $713.4) | 9 ON THE COME UP $15K (cum. $229k) |
| 10 SEE HOW THEY RUN $1.0 (cum. $7.9) | 10 🔺 WOLF PACK $14k *NEW* |
| 11 MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU $951k (cum. $366.8) | 11 GIGI & NATE $9k (cum $2.26) |
| 12 🔺 THE GOOD HOUSE $797k *NEW* |
12 MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON $9k (cum. $6.32) |
| 13 THE INVITATION $485k (cum. $23.9) | 13 🔺 SIRENS $9k *NEW* |
The other big story is the success of Indian cinema. Ponniyin Selvan almost outgrossed Bros, while the other two others (Vikram Vedha and Brahmastra Part One: Shiva ended up in the Top 25). Even with little to no American-based marketing, these films can make a chunk of cash from North American markets.
What did you see these past few days? I attempted to knock out a few Best Picture winners I've never seen before, including All the King's Men and Wings. I also had a date night on Saturday and drunkenly watched See How They Run.