“Halloween Ends” slayed the box office competition, collecting $41.25 million from 3,901 North American theaters in its opening weekend.

The movie had a softer start than expected (projections were closer to $50 million to $55 million) but it’s still impressive considering its simultaneous release on Peacock likely cut into ticket sales. “Halloween Ends” also faced unexpectedly steep competition from Paramount’s creepy thriller “Smile,” which continued its killer run with $12.4 million (a 33% decline) in its third weekend of release. The R-rated “Smile” has grossed $71.1 million in North America to date, a scary-good result since it cost $17 million to produce. At a time when movie theaters have been struggling to bounce back from COVID, horror has been a consistent bright spot.

“Horror films have been performing extremely well at the box office,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Young audiences like seeing these movies at a theater.”

But, he adds, “When that kind of success is possible, the greatest value is created by an exclusive theatrical release first, followed by streaming.”

“Halloween Ends” cost $33 million to produce, not including marketing expenses, so it won’t take a ton of coin to turn a profit. But there was hope, at least heading into the weekend, that the slasher sequel would beat the $49 million start of its predecessor, 2021’s “Halloween Kills,” which also opened day-and-date on Peacock. Instead, “Halloween Ends” landed the lowest debut in the rebooted trilogy, a sign that enthusiasm is starting to diminish.

Given the hybrid rollouts for “Halloween Kills” and “Halloween Ends,” there was little expectation that either of those follow-ups would dethrone 2018’s “Halloween” ($77 million) as the highest-grossing opening weekend of the series.

“Halloween Ends” landed a bleak “C+” CinemaScore, the lowest grade of the trilogy. That’s not exactly encouraging since “Halloween Kills,” which scored comparatively better reviews, collapsed by 70% in its sophomore outing and tapped out with $92 million in North America and $131 million globally. By comparison, the well-received “Halloween” ended its theatrical run with $159 million in the U.S. and $255 million worldwide.

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