Halloween Ends has officially opened at the box office with a haul that was less than anticipated haul than Universal Pictures was projecting. While this is far from disappointing, the film was expected to gross higher numbers, and many are blaming the so-called “day-and-date” release strategy over at the Peacock streaming service.
Halloween Ends is the culmination of the rebooted trilogy of Halloween films helmed by David Gordon Green. These films eschew the canonicity of the other films in the Halloween franchise, with only the original Halloween being canon to this trilogy of films. Laurie has a daughter and granddaughter, Michael Myers and Laurie Strode are not siblings, Michael Myers has no supernatural powers, and it’s been 40 years since Laurie and Michael faced off. The rebooted series started off strong with the entry simply titled Halloween before a diminishing return in Halloween Kills, which has had a similar (if slightly higher) performance to Halloween Ends thus far.
According to Deadline, Halloween Ends was expected to come in at around $55 million in its first weekend. Ultimately, however, the film is settling at a $41.2 million opening weekend. The film is still considered to be profitable against its $30 million budget, though the studio will have to pay itself for the rights to stream the film in a curious bit of Hollywood accounting.
Many are speculating that the box office results are due to the day-and-date strategy employed for the film. It was announced that Halloween Ends would be headed to Peacock on the same day as its theatrical release. This move likely disincentivized theater goers and caused a loss of revenue for the film from viewers who shared passwords and streaming accounts.
Halloween Ends is difficult to justify from a layman's perspective. With regards to box office, the film is not a disappointment, nor is it a box office bomb, but it likely could have brought in more money for Universal Pictures. It’s possible that the studio wanted to draw more viewers into its Peacock streaming service, but the number of new subscribers has yet to be revealed.
Whatever the case, Halloween Ends is proving to be an odd final chapter in the Halloween saga. Audiences are split on the final product, and some argue that it lacks much of what made the original Halloween such a great film. Who knows what the future holds, though, Halloween Ends may not be the end of the franchise according to John Carpenter.
Halloween Ends is in theaters and available to stream on Peacock.
Source: Deadline