LOS ANGELES: New horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s” shot to the top of the North American box office this pre-Halloween weekend, taking in an estimated US$78 million – a frighteningly good opening for a film also available via streaming.
“Freddy’s” take, reported by industry watcher Exhibitor Relations, made it an instant winner for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, which spent just US$20 million to make the video game-based film – which is also streaming on Universal’s Peacock service. Down a notch after leading the box office for two weeks was “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” at US$14.7 million.
In third place, also down one spot from its debut last weekend, was Martin Scorsese’s history-based epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” at US$9 million. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone star in the dark story about the 1920s murders of Native Americans by evildoers coveting their oil wealth.