Horror Movie ‘Terrifier 3’ Tops the Box Office as ‘Joker 2’ Crashes

The latest slasher outing for Art the Clown took in $18.3 million this weekend, while the ‘Joker’ sequel couldn’t even log double digits in a shocking second-week drop.

David Howard Thornton as “Art the Clown” in the horror film, 'Terrifier 3', a Cineverse release. Photo: Jesse Korman/Dark Age Cinema.

Preview:

‘Terrifier 3’ won the box office this weekend.
‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ suffered one of the biggest second-weekend drops in history.
‘The Wild Robot,’ which is doing well for DreamWorks, has a sequel in development.

Turns out audiences do want to watch a sequel where a clown causes chaos… just not the big budget studio version.

In a major triumph for both independent filmmaking and the horror genre, clown slasher movie ‘Terrifier 3’ has topped the domestic box office with an impressive $18.3 million.

That might not seem like a huge amount in an era where the likes of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ open to north of $200 million but given that ‘Terrifier 2’ was made for $5 million, that’s still a big win.

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Five years after surviving Art the Clown's Halloween massacre, Sienna and Jonathan are still struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches,... Read the Plot

And it comes as the other clown on screens right now is continuing to be a huge disappointment. ‘Joker: Folie à Deux,’ itself with a roughly $190 million budget, saw its earnings drop 81% this weekend, one of the worst in comic book history and films in general.

Following its launch last week with an already-disappointing $37.6 million, Todd Phillips’ sequel fell to $7.05 million despite showing on more than 4,000 screens (by comparison, ‘Terrifier 3’ was on 2,514).

Joker: Folie à Deux

"The world is a stage."

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What’s behind ‘Terrifier 3’s success?

Lauren LaVera in 'Terrifier 3'. Photo: Cineverse.

The indie horror movie franchise, directed by Damien Leone, stars David Howard Thornton as Art, a demonic clown figure who terrorizes a small town with grisly killings.

While he normally strikes around Halloween, ‘Terrifier 3’ sees him appear at Christmas, dressed as Santa, but still with murder on his mind.

Yet despite all the gore and violence, the movies have built a cult following and display no little skill for classic schlockbuster marketing tactics, such as setting up a hotline for outraged audience members to decry its content.

It also spent a lot less on advertising, targeting horror fans and keeping its budget low.

What else happened at the box office this weekend?

(L to R) Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ 'Joker: Folie à Deux,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise/™ & © DC Comics. Copyright: © 2024 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved. TM & © DC.

DreamWorks has reason to celebrate, as family animation ‘The Wild Robot’ took second place, earning $13.45 million in its third weekend.

The new movie has been successful enough that director Chris Sanders, who wrote and directed based on Peter Brown’s book, is putting plans in place for a follow-up to the story of Roz the robot (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) and the animals she befriends on an isolated island.

‘Folie à Deux’ had to settle for third place given its dismal figure. Warner Bros. will be happier with ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ which slipped to fourth place with $7 million, but which has been in theaters for six weeks and is now on home VOD.

Pharrell’s LEGO-animated life story ‘Piece by Piece’ struggled to connect with audiences, taking in $3.8 million, but that put it ahead of Jason Reitman’s ‘Saturday Night’ and Donald Trump-skewering biopic ‘The Apprentice,’ which earned $4.1 million and $1.58 million in seventh and 10th respectively.

Will there be a ‘Terrifier 4’?

(L to R) Clint Howard as “Smokey” and Daniel Roebuck as “Santa” in the horror film, 'Terrifier 3', a Cineverse release. Photo: Jesse Korman/Dark Age Cinema.

Director Damien Leone has said he’s got plans for at least a couple more films, so we’ve not heard the last of Art the Clown. Perhaps Warner Bros. should consider picking that franchise up if it’s looking for a successful franchise?

(from left) Fink (Pedro Pascal), Roz (Lupita N’yongo), and Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara) in DreamWorks Animation’s 'The Wild Robot', directed by Chris Sanders. © 2024 DreamWorks Animation. All Rights Reserved.