‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Domestic Box Office Debuts in Second Place

It seems like Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour will top the domestic box office for the second weekend in a row after beating newcomer Killers of the Flower Moon. The hit concert film grossed over $10 million on its second Friday, after making nearly $6 million on Thursday. The Eras Tour is receiving a highly unconventional release; not only is it being distributed directly by theater chains without the involvement of a studio, it is only playing Thursday-Sunday for three weeks.

It didn’t have a difficult time defending its title on its second Friday, despite the challenge posed by Killers of the Flower Moon. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the epic Western grossed over $9 million on opening day, which includes the $2.6 million that it made in Thursday previews. The film is expected to gross over $23 million across the weekend, which is a solid result for a three and a half hour epic about the violence that shaped America, but not so great when you consider its reported $200 million budget. But the film has the potential to alter the industry; it is, after all, a streaming title that is getting a proper theatrical release before being launched on Apple TV+ at an unspecified later date. And despite their unavailability to promote the movie because of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro — especially together, in a Scorsese picture — are a considerable draw. The movie would hope to leg it through fall, on the back of excellent reviews and a solid A- CinemaScore from opening day audiences. For context, Scorsese and DiCaprio’s The Wolf of Wall Street ended up adding nearly $100 million to its $19 million opening a decade ago.

The Eras Tour is expected to generate over $32 million in its second weekend, which will take its running domestic total to around $130 million. The Eras Tour topped its opening weekend with over $92 million, although it fell short of bullish projections that had it crossing the $100 million mark and breaking Joker’s record for the biggest domestic debut of October. The film should comfortably pass the $150 million mark worldwide before it begins the second leg of its global rollout on November 3.

The Box Office Top Five Offers an Eclectic Selection

Universal’s horror reboot The Exorcist: Believer added $1.6 million on its third Friday, and is expected to generate around $5 million this weekend. Directed by David Gordon Green, the film has finally passed the $50 million mark domestically, but as things stand, Believer could have a difficult time matching the $76 million that Green’s 2018 Halloween reboot grossed in its opening weekend alone. Paramount’s PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie is continuing to prove counter-programming well into its third week. The animated sequel is also expected to gross around $5 million this weekend, after generating over $1.2 million on Friday. This would take the film’s running domestic total to over $55 million.

Rounding out the top five was an unexpected new entrant: Disney’s re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The movie grossed nearly $1.5 million on Friday, and is expected to finish the weekend with around $4.3 million. Directed by Henry Selick and originally released in 1993, The Nightmare Before Christmas has grossed over $90 million worldwide, in addition to having established itself as one of the seminal stop-motion pictures, and a staple re-watch at this time of the year. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.