The opening weekend for Joker: Folie a Deuxwas no laughing matter, and it looks like things are about to get a lot worse as the film’s sophomore weekend looms. On the other bloodstained hand, Art the Clown of Terrifier 3 has every right to have a gleefully menacing smile on his face because there is a very strong chance that the third installment of the ultra-violent horror franchise is about to cut Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker down to size with a better than anticipated debut.
Per Deadline, Terrifier 3 is expected to gross at least $11 million this weekend, with the trade and other box office analysts indicating that the opening could go even higher. That would make it more than enough to top Joker: Folie à Deux, should the big-budget comic book movie drop more than 70 percent in weekend two. If it declines just 70 percent, that’s an $11.2 million gross coming off its lower-than-expected $37 million debut. However, there are signs that the Joker sequel will decline even more given its “D” CinemaScore, poor word of mouth and subpar weekday box office grosses as of Tuesday.
Even if Terrifier 3 comes in at the low end of projections, that is tremendous growth for the independent horror franchise. Released in 2018 and made on a low budget of just $36,000, Terrifier was given a limited theatrical release and opened to $123,957 before finishing out with $419,007 worldwide. The first film more than earned its money back and solidified its cult status early on to guarantee the release of Terrifier 2. The sequel had a bigger budget of $250,000 thanks to an Indiegogo campaign that exceeded its $50,000 goal. After opening to $805,000, the sequel improved massively on its predecessor with a $15.7 million global total.
Terrifier Began as a Mirco-Budgeted Short Film
Written and directed by Damien Leone, the filmmaker originally created Art the Clown (David Haward Thronton) in a 2006 short film called The 9th Circle before bringing him back in another 2011 short called Terrifier. The shorts would ultimately become part of an anthology film called All Hallow’s Eve. Seven years later, Terrifier started to build a more coherrent story around the character. The 2018 movie followed Tara Heyes (Jenna Kanell) and her sister Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) as they became the target of the aforementioned serial killer on Halloween. Critics were mixed about the movie, with the horror effort earning a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but fans immediately responded to the depravity of Art the Clown and particularly the film’s central gory death scene.
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Featuring the most despicable killings thus far, Damien Leone’s threequel benefits from a bigger budget and a Christmas backdrop.
Terrifier 2 saw the resurrection of Art the Clown and the return of Victoria alongside a new cast of would-be-victims, most notably Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) and her younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam), with all the action taking place exactly one year later on Halloween night. Critics embraced the sequel much more positively, thanks in part to its expanded characterizing of its killer clown, the creation of a dark and twisted mythology, and some truly gut-churning practical effects. The film registered an improved 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, and guaranteed the future of the franchise.
Terrifier 3 now brings Art’s brand of chaotic malice to a Christmas setting, as five years on from his last massacre, he once again starts targeting Sienna and her brother. Reviews for the new installment managed to outdo the film’s predecessor, peaking at 92% before a run of middling scores pulled it back down to 82% at the time of writing. For a movie that goes beyond many of the highly criticized “video nasties” of 1980s and early 1990s, the success of the Terrifier franchise has proven to be an unrelenting and uncompromising lesson in how to remain true to a vision and reap the rewards in the process.