Halloween Kills will debut on 15th Oct 2021, Universal and Peacock have announced officially
Halloween Kills will debut on 15th Oct 2021, Universal and Peacock have announced officially. Like DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby: Family Business (which debuted in theaters on July 2 and was on Peacock “for free” for the first 60 days of its domestic theatrical run), Blumhouse and Miramax’s Halloween threequel (written by Scott Teems, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green) will be available in theaters and on Peacock come October 15.
The previous sequel again starred Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, this time in a “40-years-later” continuation of John Carpenter and Debra Hill’s 1978 original. Halloween, which earned a ridiculous $159 million domestic (from a $77 million debut weekend) and $256 million worldwide take from a $10 million budget in October 2018, was a “none of the other sequels counted” installment. Likewise, Halloween H20 acted as a “20 years later” offering which ignored everything after Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981) and again Laurie against the boogieman Halloween Kills.
Halloween earned $47 million domestic while Halloween II earned $25 million (-47%). Rob Zombie’s Halloween (the Labor Day champ until just days ago) earned $80 million worldwide in 2007 while his Halloween II earned $39 million (-51%) in 2009. H20 sold itself as the first chapter Halloween Kills in a new era of Halloween kills (it’s no secret that the franchise was about to go direct-to-video after The Curse of Michael Myers) to the tune of $55 million in 1998. But the mostly Laurie-free Halloween Resurrection earned just $30 million domestic (-55%) in 2002.
Heck, if you count The Return of Michael Myers (which brought back the Shape along with Donald Pleasance’s Dr. Loomis and opened ten years after the first Halloween) as a “folks were curious the first time” reset too, then note that Halloween IV earned $17.7 million in 1988 while Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers earned a franchise-low (sans inflation) $11.5 million (-35%) in 1989. So if we run the math, then we’re looking at, at best, a 65% retention (which is normal-to-good for most franchises) and a $101 million domestic and $166 million worldwide.
That was likely a best-case-scenario sans Covid. We’re probably looking at Halloween Kills, especially with a mediocre reviews (many of which seemingly emphasize how little Laurie vs. Michael screen time we get), something closer to $80 million domestic and $128 million worldwide, which again would be just fine for a $15-$25 million sequel to a breakout horror smash. When your $10 million movie tops $255 million worldwide, your sequel can make a lot less and still make a lot of money.
