There’s good news for several films at the box office this weekend, starting with Paramount’s “Smile 2,” which despite competition from gory indie darling “Terrifier 3,” is set to match its predecessor’s opening weekend with a $23 million launch from 3,619. theaters after earning $9.4 million on Friday, including $2.5 million from Thursday previews.

Two years ago, “Smile” earned a $22.6 million opening in September, going on to gross $109.5 million domestic and $217.4 million worldwide against a $17 million production budget. “Smile 2,” starring Naomi Scott as a pop star doomed by a fatal curse, has only a slightly higher budget of $28 million and has been positively received with a B on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes, scores from 84% critics and 86% audience .

The good news for theaters is that none of this has come at the expense of “Terrifier 3,” which continues to attract audiences up to the challenge of checking out Damien Leone’s ultra-violent slasher threequel. In its second weekend, Cineverse/Bloody Disgusting heads to a frame of $9.6 million, down just 48% from its $18.8 million start, while it’s estimated to reach a two-weekend total of $36.4 million amounts to.

With this result, “Terrifier 3” is expected to gross at least $50 million against its minuscule $2.5 million in production and marketing expenses, becoming one of the top 5 horror films at the box office this year. With Halloween still on the horizon, all signs point to the film continuing to develop.

More to come…

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