Halloween weekend box office business slowed to a crawl as The Black Phone 2 returned to the top spot with a modest late-October surge, while Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia expanded nationwide and sing-along screenings of K-Pop: Demon Hunters lured a passionate fan base back to cinemas. Industry trackers pegged the frame as one of the softest of the year, with projections showing the horror sequel as the safest bet to lead a market shaped by reissues, event programming, and a handful of specialty titles widening their runs.
Receipts from Friday underscored the muted scale. Black Phone 2 generated about $2.39 million to reclaim first place as spooky-season play continued, pushing the Universal and Blumhouse sequel past $55 million domestic through day 15. Focus Features’ Bugonia, coming off a strong platform start, took roughly $1.81 million as it broadened to more than 2,000 locations, signaling solid awareness for Lanthimos and star Emma Stone as the film builds out from a premium-per-screen debut the prior weekend.
Elsewhere, the Halloween corridor featured an unusual swing title: Netflix’s K-Pop: Demon Hunters, which returned to theaters in a limited sing-along engagement after a summer streaming run that set platform records and powered a hit soundtrack. The event screenings, scheduled through November 2 in major circuits, followed the film’s earlier theatrical one-off that briefly topped the domestic chart, a rarity for the streamer and a reminder of the movie’s social, music-driven pull.
Bugonia’s expansion arrives amid healthy international rollout and a U.K.-Ireland push this weekend, positioning the film for a steady leg-out play pattern as awards-season conversation ramps up. For Black Phone 2, the hold reflects horror’s reliable late-October cadence and the franchise value of Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s phone-ringing concept, even in a marketplace that has struggled for consistent breadth since early fall. With little in the way of fresh four-quadrant product, exhibitors leaned on repertory favorites and targeted events to fill schedules, while analysts looked ahead to November entries to restore momentum.
