Halloween Ends scores a solid opening, but lowest of reboot trilogy

It's the end of Halloween as we know it, and the horror finale is doing fine at the box office.

Halloween Ends, which was billed as the conclusion of the slasher franchise's reboot trilogy, had a solid opening weekend, grossing $41.2 million domestically.

That was lower than earlier projections suggesting Ends could make $50 million or more, and it was also the lowest opening of the trilogy. 2018's Halloween debuted with a massive $76 million, while the 2021 sequel Halloween Kills opened to $49 million, though the latter was released on Peacock and in theaters simultaneously. Halloween Ends, too, is available on Peacock at no added cost to subscribers, which surely made a dent in the opening.

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But if the debut was slightly disappointing, it may have more to do with the fact that Ends has already proven divisive because it sidelines Michael Myers and focuses on a new character who was not in prior films. Some fans felt misled by the advertising, which implied the movie would center entirely on Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie battling Michael Myers when most of the film isn't about that. Audiences gave Ends a C+ CinemaScore, lower than B- for Halloween Kills and B+ for 2018's Halloween, though some critics applauded the movie for its effort to shake up the series' formula.

Despite the divisive reactions and Peacock release, Ends still earned the largest opening for any movie since Nope in July, and the debut certainly isn't bad considering the film's budget was reportedly just $20 million.

Ends is expected to be the conclusion of this trilogy and Curtis' farewell to Laurie Strode after more than 40 years (for real this time). But another reboot of the series is surely inevitable, so it may not be long before the night he comes home ... again.