Paramount’s $28M production Smile 2 is in great shape with a $23M opening (or 1.6M admissions per EntTellgence) after a $9.4M Friday and great Saturday of $8.1M (a -15% hold against previews/Friday!) and a B CinemaScore. That’s better than the B- on the first one, and nickels above the opening of that 2022 movie which did $22.6M.

Smile 2 is Paramount’s fourth No. 1 opening title this year after Mean Girls, Bob Marley: One Love and IF.

Last night we caught up with Smile 2 star Naomi Scott at the Academy Museum Gala; the movie being the second No. 1 opening title for the CAA-repped actress. Talking about how the Parker Finn directed/written movie was resonating, she said, “The communal experience of watching that movie, it’s such a roller coaster ride and it gives you everything you want from a horror movie, but it’s also a character piece, so you are really engaged the whole way through, and it’s very unhinged, it’s fun,  and I just love what Parker did and I love that people are loving it.”

“Parker really took the Smile universe into the galaxy as opposed into the solar system,” beamed Paramount Domestic Distribution Boss Chris Aronson, “He’s a visionary director. He’s really seized control of Smile and created something that’ really special.”

Promotion for Smile 2 began with an in-world campaign for the popstar Skye Riley played by Scott, including billboards, chalk stencil art, and wild postings across Los Angeles that teased that a new single was coming. The day the trailer launched, the art updated to reveal the campaign for Smile 2. The single “Grieved You” was released along with a lyric video and subsequently a music video. The full Smile 2 EP released on DSPs last week, Oct 11.  Smile also took over the brat wall made famous by Charli XCX with custom art.

There was also a multi-city stunt in Austin, New York City, Miami, Chicago, Mexico City, London, and Los Angeles, where smiling actors stared down at passersby from office and hotel windows.

Similar to what Terrifier 3 did in tapping into the Call of Duty X audience, Smile 2 had a movie-themed bundle where players could play donning the signature creepy smile.

Tapping into Latino and Hispanic moviegoers, Smile 2 had a collaboration with Valas, the Latin owned fashion brand, creating a capsule collection of items that are a unique twist on the brand’s signature smile iconography. The collab was gifted and worn by some of the biggest influencers in the Latino space.

EntTelligence says that Smile 2 represented close to a third of all foot traffic this weekend followed by Wild Robot at 16% and Terrifier 3 with 13%. Of course, evening showtimes were the most robust for this horror sequel with 71% attending post 5PM shows.

Updated Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak exits show 3 stars on Smile 2 with 31% men over 25 for the R-rated movie (up from 28% on Smile), 24% apiece for men under 25 and women over 25 (a little lower for each versus 2022 movie), and women under 25 at 22% (up from 20% on part one). 18-34 is close to 70%, which is right around what the first one pulled in. Diversity demos were 40% Caucasian, 35% Latino and Hispanic (both better than the first), 15% Black and 7% Asian. The 18-34 crowed repped 70% of business. PLFs repped 36% of ticket sales. Walk-up business is very good with 67% buying their tickets same day. Thirty-four percent came because it’s part of a franchise they love.

Smile 2 is the happiest in the East, South, South Central and West, but really coast to coast. Canada repped close to 10% of the sequel’s business with only 8% of the pic’s total locations. The Regal Times Square is the movie’s top grossing venue with $47K through Saturday. The major markets that over-indexed include LA, NYC, Chicago, Toronto, Detroit and Montreal. Top markets were NYC, LA, Montreal, Toronto, Phoenix, Orlando, Baltimore, Miami, Pharr TX, Fresno, and Sacramento.

Smile 2‘s social media reach across TikTok, X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube counted 154.4M followers per analytics corp RelishMix ahead of opening which notches ahead of Saw X (134M) and The Nun II (149.8M). The repost rate on trailers for Smile 2 was 11 to 1, which indicated that this movie was destined for a $20M+ opening.

Upbeat word of mouth according to RelishMix: “Many fans of the original 2022 horror film anticipating the next chapter in Parker Finn’s series are appreciating the new direction and focal point of suspense in this sequel saying, ‘I feel like the first Smile took on the psychological aspect of the curse, a full-on horror. This feels equally terrifying but includes more social aspects to it,’ and, ‘The fact that this evil spirit can possess little kids is unnerving.’ The terror is still present, sharing, ‘Smile 1 was my favorite horror movie when it premiered.‘”

Other great news for adult films after last weekend’s wipeout include Studio Canal and A24’s We Live in Time doing $4.18M for $4,2K theater average, but then there’s NEON’s exclusive six theater play of Cannes Palme D’or winner, Sean Baker’s Anora, which is very va-va voom and on its way to posting the second-best opening theater average post Covid with $90K (after Asteroid City‘s $142,2K) or an estimated $540K at six theaters. The movie is showing great ticket sales at NYC’s Lincoln Center, Angelika NY, Alamo Brooklyn and LA’s AMC Century City, Grove and Burbank. Note this is also the best theater average to date this year, ahead of Searchlight’s Kinds of Kindness which did a $75,4K opening theater average. Reviews for Anora are rock solid at 98% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Said Elissa Federoff, NEON Distribution Boss, “We’re incredibly excited about this weekend’s record-breaking results and the fantastic critical and audience response to Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning film, Anora.  Baker is a singular director who truly understands the power of the theatrical experience and how important it is for films to be seen in the theater. With Mikey Madison in her unparalleled performance as Anora, and the film’s strong awards potential, there’s no doubt it will continue to captivate a broad audience as we move into the Fall.”

As far as the magic of We Live in Time, the British romance is playing best in the West, South and Mountain regions; it’s not just for metropolitan audiences. Friday was $1.8M. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a fantastic 94%.

Disney has the re-release of 1993’s Hocus Pocus at 1,480 locations which did $287K on Friday for what’s shaping up to be a $841K 3-day. That gets the Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker and Bette Midler comedy to a lifetime of $50.2M by Sunday.

Ketchup Entertainment’s first weekend of Michael Keaton and Mila Kunis’ dramedy Goodrich at $650K fell flat at 1,055 theaters for a near $616 per location. As we told you Friday, the film had fantastic exits.

Despite a solid opening by Smile 2, and a continued excellent hold by Wild Robot in weekend 4 at -28% or $10.1M and a $101.7M take by Sunday, the overall weekend at $71.3M is off 15% from a year ago when Taylor Swift: Eras Tour held in weekend 2 with a $33M+ take. Despite the strikes rocking last autumn’s box office, October 2023 put up solid comps, held together by Swift and Five Nights at Freddy‘s which wound up being the highest grossing horror film of the year.

Sunday numbers updated:

via Deadline