Halloween weekend ended the month with the worst box office weekend of the year, the worst Halloween weekend in 32 years, and this all comes after the worst October box office in three decades.
Naturally, the sycophantic box office analysts are blaming the World Series and the Halloween holiday — you know, because never before in the history of America has there ever been a World Series and Halloween. These people, I tell you.
Could it be, and I’m just spitballin’ here, I’m just tossing it around, I’m just thinking out loud — but could it possibly, perhaps, maybe be that the shit released by Hollywood over the weekend held no appeal for Normal People, or pretty much anyone else?
Let’s take a look at this weekend’s can-miss titles, shall we?
Something called Regretting You.
A sequel to a fairly successful horror movie called Black Phone.
Something called Chainsaw Man.
Something called K-Pop Demon Hunters — which, I think, was already on TV.
That Springsteen movie that came out 40 years after anyone would care.
Something called Bugonia
Something called Roofman.
Tron: Jared Leto
One Battle After Another.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You…
The result…?
Total weekend revenue came in at just $49.8 million, marking the worst weekend of 2025 and the lowest-grossing Halloween weekend in more than 30 years, according to Comscore. The last time October’s final weekend was this dismal was in 1993 — not counting 2020’s pandemic closures.
At what point does the movie industry say that maybe it’s time to hire people who don’t hate our customers, normalcy, and white men? Who don’t hate masculinity, universal themes, and widely-beloved franchises? But who do very much hate heavy-handed politics, girlbosses, gay stuff, queering kids, and anything that stinks of woke?
Probably never, which is why I’m amassing a Blu-ray collection just large enough to get me through retirement and small enough to keep me out of divorce court.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of people who hate us.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
