Bad reviews didn’t scare off the ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ audience. It even broke a record

AP Five Nights at Freddy s has powered up the box office once again The sequel opened in theaters in the U S and Canada this weekend and far surpassed expectations with million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday Seemingly immune to widely negative reviews Five Nights at Freddy s notched the biggest opening ever for the weekend after Thanksgiving which usually is a more muted buffet of leftovers It s also the biggest opening of the year for a PG- rated movie and the second biggest horror opening behind The Conjuring Last Rites The movies and the contest are about a family restaurant Freddy Fazbear s Pizza whose anthropomorphic robots turn murderous at night There s been a lot of doom and gloom about the industry overall but this movie helped drive the industry to the biggest first weekend post-Thanksgiving ever announced Jim Orr who heads domestic distribution for Universal The first film also a Blumhouse production was a surprise hit two years ago It opened to million in October despite also being available to stream on Peacock Universal decided to open the sequel exclusively in theaters With a informed production price tag of only million Five Nights at Freddy s is on its way to being another smash It s another reminder of the expected massive upside of theatrical releases as multiple in the industry and out wonder what Netflix s acquisition of Warner Bros will mean for moviegoing The sequel written by the tournament s creator Scott Cawthon saw the return of cast members like Josh Hutcherson Matthew Lillard and Elizabeth Lail as well as director Emma Tammi Reviews were dismal even worse than the first Mark Kennedy in his zero star review for The Associated Press called it an incoherent mess But horror fans have been known to turn out for opening weekends regardless of reviews This audience had a decidedly more positive take According to PostTrak polling evidence of ticket buyers announced they would definitely recommend Five Nights at Freddy s to their friends Paul Dergarabedian the head of marketplace trends for Comscore reported that the teen video gamer audience is sometimes underestimated and this weekend proves once again that given the right film will come out to the movie theater for that communal experience with fellow fans It was also enough to push the more family-friendly Zootopia into second place in its second weekend in theaters where it added million in North America But the Disney film isn t hurting after its record Thanksgiving opening With million from territories internationally including China the running global total is an eye-popping million It s officially pushed Walt Disney Studio releases over the billion mark globally the only studio to do so this year Wicked For Good also a Universal release landed in third place in its third weekend with million from theaters brining its domestic total just shy of million Fourth place went to Gkids anime Jujutsu Kaisen Execution which opened to an estimated million while Lionsgate s Now You See Me Now You Don t rounded out the top five with million pushing its running global total to million Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair was close behind with million from theaters Quentin Tarantino combined Kill Bill Vol and Vol into a four hour and -minute epic including a minute intermission The Lionsgate release got a rare A CinemaScore from an audience that was male According to the studio majority of of the mm and mm showings were sold out Due to the demand for the film prints the studio is exploring an extended run Kill Bill star Lucy Liu had a big weekend at New York s AMC Lincoln Square where the independent drama Rosemead made from one screen A filmed version of the Tony-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along starring Jonathan Groff Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez and circulated by Sony Pictures Classics opened just outside of the top with million from screens The running annual domestic box office just this weekend surpassed billion Since the pandemic it s only surpassed billion once in when Barbie topped the year Prior to it would regularly hit billion It s not impossible but every movie is going to have to overperform in various way if we re going to get to the billion threshold Dergarabedian reported Top movies by domestic box office With final domestic figures being disclosed Monday this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U S and Canadian theaters according to Comscore Five Nights at Freddy s million Zootopia million Wicked For Good million Jujutsu Kasen Execution million Now You See Me Now You Don t million Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair million Eternity million Hamnet million Dhurandhar million Predator Badlands million