The math is the story. A $19 million budget, a $27.5 million opening, an 18 percent critics score, a D+ from the audience. The movie is winning the weekend while losing every review, which is a specific flavor of box office success the marketing team never asked for and will absolutely claim in the postmortem.
The effective campaign did its job. Nobody needed a good review to see a haunted house movie about a second mom. People needed a reason to be out of the house on a Friday night, and October supplies one whether the script cooperates or not. Hollywood Reporter caught Chastain on the carpet before opening, smiling like the number was already hers.
The D+ is the real headline though. Two years without an audience grade that low, and the winner of the weekend is a movie that beat a Sorkin picture to No. 1 while losing almost every review. Rotten Tomatoes has a new floor.
YOUR TURN: A D+ horror movie at $15 a ticket. Do you trust the math or the mood?
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