gppbet ‘Smile 2’ opens with $23 million to lead box office

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Naomi Scott in a scene from “Smile 2.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

LOS ANGELES – The horror sequel “Smile 2” opened atop the box office this weekend, taking in $23 million at North American theaters, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

Writer-director Parker Finn’s follow-up to his 2022 hit beat out “The Wild Robot,” which grossed $10.1 million in its fourth weekend, Comscore reported.

“Terrifier 3” slipped to third one week after opening in first place, grossing $9.3 million Friday through Sunday.

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“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was fourth with another $5 million in its seventh week, and fifth place went to “We Live in Time,” a romance starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, which opened with $4.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Joker: Folie á Deux” ($2.18 million), “Piece by Piece” ($2.1 million), “Transformers One” ($1.9 million), “Saturday Night” ($1.8 million) and a re-release of 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” ($1.1 million).

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $70 million. The year-to-date total is $6.638 billion — down 11% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

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Parker Finn has returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror “Smile,” his debut.

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Lukas Gage in a scene from “Smile 2.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. “Smile” became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.

The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first’s $22 million.

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Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America.

Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as “The Wild Robot,” and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into “Terrifier 3,” which is not rated, instead.

“Smile 2″ is rated R for “strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout and drug use.”  (With CNS report)

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