Halloween Ends will go down in movie history as one of the most disastrous franchise blunders in the history of franchises, right up there with the new Star Wars trilogy.
Although I found director David Gordon Green’s Halloween (2018) just okay, and loved its sequel Halloween Kills (2021), my hatred for Halloween Ends has only grown over the days since its October 13 premiere.
More on that in a bit. In the meantime, here’s the ongoing fallout…
In its second weekend, Halloween Ends died at the box office. After an already weak $41 million opening, this terrible movie took an almost unprecedented 80 percent dive in its second weekend, grossing just $8 million. After two weekends, Halloween Ends has earned a measly $54 million. By comparison, in its fourth weekend and with no stars or franchise boost, a little horror movie called Smile earned $8.35 million for a total of $84.3 million.
Halloween Ends will be lucky to make it to $70 million, much less $84 million.
Naturally, the lying propagandists in the entertainment media are blaming this failure on Universal’s decision to release Halloween Ends on its streaming channel the same day it was released in theaters. Well, the so-called box office experts knew in advance it was going to Peacock when they told us Halloween Ends would open to something like $50 million.
Moreover, Halloween Kills was also released on Peacock and in theaters at the same time. Nevertheless, Kills opened to $49.4 million and had already earned $73 million after its second weekend, where its drop was 70 percent. Halloween Kills would go on to earn $92 million domestic. Halloween Ends won’t come near that.
Peacock’s not the problem. Halloween Ends sucking is the problem.
Don’t believe me?
Well, how about 12.5K fans who have already signed a petition for Halloween Ends to get a total do-over?
Halloween Ends was NOT a film that the Fans wanted! This was an Origins Story! The Corey Story! We deserve a movie worthy of Michael Myers & the Halloween Franchise! We love this Franchise whole heartily and this version of a Halloween Movie left us sad, mad, disappointed, and Infuriated. Please give us a movie that shows us what Halloween is really about. Our Apex Predator…. the King of Slasher Movies Michael Myers! This movie gave us a weak pathetic Michael who needed his mask to survive! This isn’t OUR MICHAEL MYERS! Our Killer is Strong , relentless, & unstoppable! Please right this wrong! We beg of you !!!
Every word of that is true.
Every.
Word.
**SPOILERS COMING**
For the life of me I cannot get over what Green and his fellow screenwriters were thinking.
Most everyone hated Halloween Kills, all that “Evil dies tonight!” stuff. I loved it. That’s the sort of cheesy, over-the-top histrionics that make horror movies, most especially slasher movies, fun. Kills was painting its story about mob violence and generational trauma in broad strokes, which is perfect for the genre.
What in the world was Ends trying to do?
What were they thinking putting on The Corey Show?
We didn’t wait in line four years to watch Corey’s stupid origin story. We sure never asked to see a little nerdy punk like Corey push Micheal freaken Myers around. Instead of having fun with whatever ambitions brought those and all the other terrible ideas (Lauri Strode dropping her guard, writing a book filled with pretentious prose, etc.), everyone behind this sucker took the movie (and themselves) wayyyyy too seriously.
Halloween Ends is a total failure, a cheat, a robbery, a bait-and-switch, a poke in the eye… Worse than the Rob Zombie movies… Worse than Halloween: Resurrected, which is borderline unwatchable.
If anything, the people who hold the Halloween intellectual property should be thrilled about this petition. It means people still care enough about the franchise to want to give it a second chance. You sure don’t see anyone saying that about Star Wars. Even with a do-over, that new Star Wars trilogy showed zero promise.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.