Over the weekend, Blumhouse and Universal released “Halloween Ends,” which earned more than $41 million at the box office. That’s a pretty solid opening for a film that sports a reported budget of only $30 million. That said, it’s also well below the previous two films in the franchise, including the massive $76 million opening for 2018’s “Halloween.” And one of the major reasons that money was seemingly left on the table for ‘Ends’ is the fact the film was simultaneously released in theaters and on the Peacock streaming service. This is a situation that a filmmaker, who is very familiar with the Blumhouse process, wants to see come to a quick end.
In a series of tweets posted recently, filmmaker Christopher Landon went on record bashing the idea of day-and-date releases for films on streaming and in theaters. He even went so far as to explain how it “destroyed” the release of his most recent film, “Freaky,” which was also produced by Blumhouse and distributed by Universal.
“Ooooooh I feel another rant coming on: Today it’s the Day & Date release strategy for ‘Halloween Ends,’” Landon tweeted. “Stop doing this. Please. It doesn’t work.”
He added, in a lengthy Twitter thread, “Studios: stop gambling with filmmakers and their movies to try and prop up your fledgling streaming services. This happened to me on ‘Freaky’ and it destroyed us. We worked SO HARD to make a fun movie. Blood sweat and tears. Months away from our families. And for what? They love to use the term: ‘two bites of the apple’ but that’s just another way of saying ‘we’re gonna use your movie as a Guinea pig’ for our streaming service. Sorry. I begged the studio not to do this. Either circle the wagons and protect it for theatrical or just go all in on streaming. Don’t split hairs. At least the ‘Halloween’ folks were made whole. We got hosed. So yeah…bitter subject. PTSD. Dear studios: stop trying to suck two dicks at the same time. Honor the sanctity of the theatrical experience.”
As mentioned, Landon’s last film, “Freaky,” was released in 2020 and saw a simultaneous release on streaming and in theaters. The film enjoyed a warm reception from critics and fans but didn’t make a ton of money at the box office, earning only $16 million worldwide. This is a far cry from his previous films, “Happy Death Day” and “Happy Death Day 2U,” which earned $125 million and $61 million worldwide, respectively. And with a cast that includes Vince Vaughan and Kathryn Newton, the fact that “Freaky” only earned $16 million is definitely worth looking deeper into.
It’s also clear that “Halloween Ends,” which follows in the footsteps of “Halloween Kills” (also released day-and-date), is going to earn well below the 2018 reboot. How much of that is due to Peacock? It’s hard to know. But there’s no denying that there is a significant number of people who chose to stay home for what should have been a huge, theatrical event.