Earlier this month, America’s hunger for superhero movies allowed Venom to break the record for the highest box office opening in October of all time with just over $80 million, and while David Gordon Green’s new Halloween won’t beat that, it is breaking some exciting records of its own. For starters, the movie is set to make over $77 million this weekend, enough for the second-best October opening of all time, the second-best R-rated horror opening of all time (It holds that record), and the highest opening of any other movie in the Halloween series.
The more exciting records all involve star Jamie Lee Curtis, though, who returned to the series for fifth time in Green’s sequel-jettisoning reboot. This new Halloween movie is Curtis’ highest opening ever, the highest opening ever for a horror movie with a female lead, and the highest opening for any movie with a female lead who is over 55 years old. Those are all good records to beat, especially since a movie studio executive somewhere might see them and realize that genre movies with female leads (and older female leads) are, you know, possible.
Either way, it’s clear from the success of movies like Halloween and It, not to mention the surprise popularity of Mandy, that horror in general is enjoying a nice moment.