After a record-breaking start, the box office quietly closed this weekend in October, with “Dune” repeating at number one and stumbling over two prominent genre newbies, “Last Night in Soho” and “Antlers”.

Whether Halloween falls on a Sunday, too many new options, or just a lack of enthusiasm, the cinema audience seemed to have other plans this weekend. Notable exceptions are the latest “My Hero Academia” and the new Wes Anderson image, “The French Dispatch”.

First place still went to the Timothée Chalamet film with a larger budget and wider release. On its second weekend in theaters, “Dune,” which is also available on HBO Max, grossed an additional $ 15.5 million on Sunday, according to studio estimates. Although it was down a steep 62% from its debut, ticket sales were enough to keep it at the top of the North American charts for another week.

With a manufacturing budget of $ 165 million (excluding marketing and advertising), Dune has now grossed $ 69.4 million in North America and $ 292.1 million worldwide. Warner Bros. and Legendary last week confirmed plans for a sequel that is slated to hit theaters exclusively in 2023.

Halloween Kills came in second on its third weekend for $ 8.5 million. The penultimate film in this modern trilogy grossed US $ 115.1 million worldwide.

Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” opened in sixth place. The stylish thriller sold by Focus grossed an estimated 4.2 million US dollars on 3,016 screens. Thomasin McKenzie plays a modern day fashion student who dreams of ever more realistic dreams of Anya Taylor-Joy’s aspiring singer in the 1960s at night.

“There are few greater champions of the theater experience than Edgar, and we couldn’t be more proud that he made Focus his home,” said Lisa Bunnell, President of Distribution, Focus.

WILL FERRELL REFUSED $ 29M for the sequel to “ELF” BECAUSE THE SCRIPT WAS “NOT GOOD”

Scott Cooper’s Antlers, about a mythical beast terrorizing a devastated Oregon city, grossed an estimated $ 4.2 million in 2,800 locations. Horror stars Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons, distributed by Searchlight.

“Of course we were hoping for a little more, but we faced each other against ‘Last Night in Soho’, another really good genre film,” said Frank Rodriguez, Head of Distribution at Searchlight. “Maybe they canceled each other out.”

But he’s optimistic since next weekend’s big releases include the Princess Diana movie “Spencer” and the Marvel epic “Eternals,” and “Antlers” has a different audience.

One of the brighter spots of the weekend was “The French Dispatch,” also distributed by Searchlight, which expanded after a limited debut, grossing a total of $ 2.8 million with just 788 locations. In 10 days of its release, it made $ 4.6 million.

“We’re still excited,” said Rodriguez. “It’s amazing to see how art house theaters that haven’t seen numbers like this in 18 months are finally seeing people coming … We’re helping to open the doors to art house and specialty theaters.”

Although the weekend was subdued, October turned out to be the busiest month of the year, with total sales expected to be $ 625 million. The previous high was reached in July with 583.8 million US dollars.

“October became a blockbuster month due to the unusual nature of the pandemic. So many big films moved into October, ”said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “It topped July. That never happens.”

BALDWIN SHOOTING HIGHLIGHTS RISKS OF A RUSH FILM PRODUCTION

Not everything is “normal” yet. By comparison, gross earnings prior to the pandemic in October 2019 were around $ 781.6 million and in 2018 it was $ 830.8 million. However, Dergarabedian said the resilient box office created a momentum in October 2021 that should last through the end of the year.

“This will set up the last three months of the year, which will feel more like summer than summer 2021,” he added. “The audience follows the film no matter what month they are in. The films define the month – the month does not define the films. “

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday in US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

1. “Dune”, $ 15.5 million.

2. Halloween Kills, $ 8.5 million.

3. “No Time to Die”, $ 7.8 million.

4. My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission, $ 6.4 million.

5. Venom: Let There Be Carnage, $ 5.8 million.

6. “Antlers”, $ 4.2 million.

7. “Last Night in Soho,” $ 4.2 million.

8. “Ron went wrong,” $ 3.8 million.

9. “The Addams Family 2”, $ 3.3 million.

10. “The French Embassy”, $ 2.8 million.