Hugh Grant’s ‘Heretic’ Could Scare Off ‘Venom 3’ This Weekend; Curtains Lift On ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ – Box Office Preview

Anthony D'Alessandro
·3-min read

It’s not that clear cut that Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance will take No. 1 in its third weekend, with the movie looking to do around $12M. Exhibitors are betting that A24’s Heretic could do as much, if not more. A24 projections are at $8M from 3,200 theaters for the Hugh Grant horror movie directed by A Quiet Place architects Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

Heretic, which made its world premiere at TIFF, follows two young Mormon missionaries, who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The R-rated movie counts 94% certified fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. There were some sneaks in Salt Lake City, but overall previews kick off at 7 p.m. Thursday. The target is young folks, 18-34.

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Venom 3 had a very good second Tuesday on Election Day of $3.3M, +56% from its second Monday and only off 28% from its first Tuesday of $4.6M. Tuesdays are bargain-ticket days. The running cume is $95.3M, and the Kelly Marcel-directed feature starring Tom Hardy will cross the $100M mark on Friday.

Lionsgate has Kingdom Story Company’s Dallas Jenkins-directed feature take of Barbara Robinson bestseller The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which insiders forecast at $6M-$8M from 3,000 theaters. Exhibition, however, believes that a $10M+ start isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

The family film had early sneaks last weekend and is 92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with critics and 100% with audiences. Thursday previews are at 4 p.m. The pic’s blurb: The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, they steal, they bully — and now they’ve hijacked the town Christmas pageant. Judy Greer, Lauren Graham, Pete Holmes and Molly Belle Wright star.

Also wide this weekend is Vertical’s George Nolfi-directed sci-fi movie Elevation, starring Anthony Mackie and Monica Baccarin at 1,416 theaters; Fathom’s Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration at 1,200 theaters; and the George Huang-directed action film Weekend in Taipei, starring Luke Evans. Luc Besson co-wrote the pic from Ketchup Entertainment, which is at 1,021 sites.

Anora, the Palme d’Or winner from Neon starring Mikey Madison, is expanding from 253 sites to 1,100 this Friday in its fourth frame. The movie counts $4.3M through Tuesday and owns the year’s best opening per-theater average with $91,700.

As my colleague Nancy Tartaglione reported, Amazon MGM Studios’ $200M Dwayne Johnson-Chris Evans Christmas action movie Red One, is flying abroad this weekend via Warner Bros with $25M-$30M. The movie opens stateside on Nov. 15 with an eye at a $35M+.

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