Smile scared up $22 million from 3,645 theaters to top the weekend. The horror pic started off with $8.2 million in theaters this Friday including $2 million in previews. It cost just $17 million to make before marketing will be a major profit generator.
According to PostTrak, around 70 percent of the audience was between the ages of 18to34. The movie Smile also played to a diverse audience.
The film Smile is the latest box office win for Paramount, and for the marketing department, which was led by Marc Weinstock. Smile‘s campaign went viral in recent days when Paramount hired many people to maintain the film’s signature creepy smile, sitting behind home base at several major league baseball games.
This movie is the first $20M+ opening at the box office since Sony’s Bullet Train debuted at $30m on the first weekend of August.
Don’t Worry Darling is the second with $2.1 million opening at the box office, with a global total of $54.7 million.