Los Angeles: This year’s Halloween box office turned out to be more frightening than festive for Hollywood, marking the lowest-grossing October 31 weekend in more than three decades. With no dominant commercial release on the marquee, Paramount’s romance-drama Regretting You and Universal’s horror sequel Black Phone 2 are locked in a razor-thin race for first place.
Early studio estimates on Sunday positioned Regretting You at No. 1 with $8.1 million from 3,245 theaters in its second weekend. However, Universal has issued its own projection placing Black Phone 2 slightly ahead at $8 million from 3,425 locations. Final numbers expected Monday will settle the dispute, though most rival studios currently lean toward the Blumhouse title.
Interestingly, the situation mirrors last weekend, when Regretting You ultimately edged out Black Phone once official figures were tallied. Paramount remains optimistic, keen for a headline win in an otherwise sluggish marketplace.
Industry analysts noted a troubling milestone: overall domestic ticket sales for Halloween weekend totaled just $49.8 million — the weakest showing of 2025 and the lowest Halloween frame since 1993, excluding pandemic-era closures in 2020. According to Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian, the combination of Halloween festivities and World Series viewership pulled audiences away from theaters.
Adding to the drag was the absence of a major tentpole release akin to last year’s Venom: The Last Dance. Exhibitors instead relied on holdovers, repertory screenings, and prestige expansions, including Focus Features’ awards contender Bugonia.
The Friday slump hit Regretting You particularly hard, with its young female core audience preoccupied with holiday outings. The film rebounded Saturday with a 200-percent surge, lifting its domestic total to $27.5 million across 10 days. Overseas markets added $23.3 million, pushing its global haul to $50.8 million.
Meanwhile, Black Phone 2 continues to be a box office bright spot for Blumhouse. The horror sequel crossed $104 million globally over the weekend, finishing Sunday with $61.5 million domestic and $43.3 million internationally. It added $7.3 million globally across the frame.
Japanese manga adaptation Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc suffered a steep second-week decline, falling 67 percent to $6 million. Despite the drop, its global revenue remains impressive at $139 million, including $30.8 million domestic.
Focus Features expanded Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia into 2,043 theaters, marking the widest release of his career. The film landed in fourth place with $4.8 million domestically and an additional $4.4 million overseas, bringing its worldwide total to $11.1 million.
Providing a nostalgic lift, Disney’s 40th-anniversary rerelease of Back to the Future performed remarkably well, earning $4.7 million from 2,290 theaters and ranking fifth. The movie has now amassed $221.7 million domestically across an extraordinary 2,105 weeks of play.
Disney’s Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere slid 57 percent to $3.8 million in its third weekend, totaling $16.3 million domestic and $30.6 million worldwide. Studio executives remain hopeful the film’s subject matter and audience response will fuel staying power.
Anniversary rereleases of The Twilight Saga also attracted fan turnout across five nights of programming in roughly 1,500 theaters, generating $3.5 million cumulatively — enough to make noise, though not eligible for weekend charting due to its staggered rollout.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another continued its strong awards-season run, earning $1.2 million from 954 screens in its sixth weekend for a domestic total of $67.8 million. With $123 million from overseas markets, the film is approaching the $200 million global milestone — by far the director’s top-grossing production.
Elsewhere, concert documentary Depeche Mode: M delivered $1.1 million domestically and $4.7 million internationally after a midweek bow, boosted by strong IMAX support.
While the industry expected a softer frame, the depth of this slump underscores the ongoing volatility of theatrical exhibition when holidays and major sporting events collide. Theater owners will now look ahead to November’s slate for a badly needed rebound.
Final rankings will be confirmed once official numbers land on Monday.