Slasher Flick Terrifier 3 Tops Box Office While Joker 2 and Trump Biopic Struggle

This weekend, the box office is painting a picture of winners and losers. The indie horror movie Terrifier 3 is leading the pack, expected to rake in around $16-17 million from 1,988 theaters. This is a big deal for a slasher film, showing that sometimes, less is more when it comes to budgets and effects. Meanwhile, The Wild Robot, a family-friendly animation from DreamWorks and Universal, is holding strong in its third weekend. It's estimated to earn another $13. 9 million from 3,854 cinemas. This shows that family movies can have staying power in theaters. But not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the hit movie Joker, is taking a massive dive in its second weekend. It's looking at a drop of 82 percent, which is one of the biggest declines in movie history. Until now, The Marvels held this sad record among comic book movies.Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a Tim Burton sequel, is doing better, though. It's expected to gross around $7. 2-7. 4 million from 2,408 locations, even though it's available on premium VOD now. This shows that some movies have staying power, even when they're streaming. Other movies are struggling too. The Apprentice, a Donald Trump biopic, is looking at a debut of only $1. 5 million from 1,740 locations. This is far less than the expected $3 million. It seems people aren't rushing to see a movie about Trump, even with good reviews and a run at Cannes and Telluride film festivals. Two awards contenders are also having a tough time. Piece by Piece, an animated doc about Pharrell Williams, and Saturday Night, a love letter to Saturday Night Live, are both debuting with around $3. 5 million each. That's not bad for documentaries, but it's not setting the box office on fire either. Overall, the box office is down 45 percent from the same time last year. This isn't great news for movie theaters, but it's a tough market out there.