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‘Smile 2’ Grinning to No. 1 at Box Office; ‘Anora’ Glitters in Limited Release

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Ray Nicholson in a scene from "Smile 2." (Paramount Pictures via AP)
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Ray Nicholson in a scene from "Smile 2." (Paramount Pictures via AP)
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‘Smile 2’ Grinning to No. 1 at Box Office; ‘Anora’ Glitters in Limited Release

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Ray Nicholson in a scene from "Smile 2." (Paramount Pictures via AP)
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Ray Nicholson in a scene from "Smile 2." (Paramount Pictures via AP)

Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend. “Smile 2,” in its first weekend, and “Terrifier 3” in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d’Or winner “Anora” got the best per-theater average in over a year.

“Smile 2" was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected $23 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror “Smile,” his debut. Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. “Smile” became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.

The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first's $22 million, The Associated Press reported.

Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as “The Wild Robot,” and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into “Terrifier 3,” which is not rated, instead.

Either way, Damien Leone’s demon clown movie, which cost only $2 million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated $9.3 million, bringing its total to $36.2 million.

“Rumors like that are PR gold,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “There’s no better indication that that movie is red hot right now."
The No. 1 openings for “Smile 2” this weekend and “Terrifier 3” last were only possible because of the failure of “Joker: Folie à Deux.” That big budget sequel continued its death march in its third weekend, falling another 69% to earn $2.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $56.4 million.
Warner Bros. has a better performer in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which placed fourth in its seventh weekend with an additional $5 million, bringing its domestic total to $284 million. Star Michael Keaton also had another film open this weekend — the father-daughter dramedy “Goodrich” which stumbled in with only $600,000 from 1,055 locations.
Rounding out the top five was the romantic tearjerker “We Live In Time,” which expanded to 985 theaters following last weekend's debut on 5 screens. The A24 release starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh earned $4.2 million over the weekend. Audiences were 85% under 35 and 70% female, according to exit polls. The well-reviewed film will expand further next weekend.
One of the other brightest spots of the weekend was Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which opened in six locations in New York and Los Angeles and earned an estimated $630,000. That’s a $105,000 per theater average, the best since “Asteroid City’s” $142,000 average last summer. The Neon release, a sensation at Cannes and a likely Oscar contender, stars Mikey Madison as a New York sex worker who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch.
After several weeks of would-be awards contenders and buzzy films (“Piece by Piece,” “Saturday Night,” “The Apprentice” among them) fizzling with audiences, “Anora’s” success is a promising sign that moviegoers will still seek out arty, adult fare.
"For moviegoers, there’s a lot on offer with something in every type of movie in every category," Dergarabedian said. “I think we’re going to have a really strong home stretch with a great combination of movies big and small.”
The Walt Disney Co. also made a splash with several re-releases. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” got a place in the top 10 with $1.1 million, while “Hocus Pocus” made $841,000.
Next weekend will have a major studio comic book movie with “Venom: The Last Dance” as well as an awards movie in the papal thriller “Conclave" vying for audience attention.

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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Reach Divorce Settlement after 8 Years

(FILES) Writer-director-producer-actress Angelina Jolie Pitt (L) and actor-producer Brad Pitt arrive for the opening night gala premiere of Universal Pictures' "By the Sea" during AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on November 5, 2015. (Photo by MARK RALSTON / AFP)
(FILES) Writer-director-producer-actress Angelina Jolie Pitt (L) and actor-producer Brad Pitt arrive for the opening night gala premiere of Universal Pictures' "By the Sea" during AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on November 5, 2015. (Photo by MARK RALSTON / AFP)
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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Reach Divorce Settlement after 8 Years

(FILES) Writer-director-producer-actress Angelina Jolie Pitt (L) and actor-producer Brad Pitt arrive for the opening night gala premiere of Universal Pictures' "By the Sea" during AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on November 5, 2015. (Photo by MARK RALSTON / AFP)
(FILES) Writer-director-producer-actress Angelina Jolie Pitt (L) and actor-producer Brad Pitt arrive for the opening night gala premiere of Universal Pictures' "By the Sea" during AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on November 5, 2015. (Photo by MARK RALSTON / AFP)

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement, her lawyer said Monday, bringing an apparent end to one of the longest and most contentious divorces in Hollywood history.
Jolie's attorney James Simon confirmed to The Associated Press that the couple had come to a deal. News of the settlement was first reported by People magazine.
“More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt,” Simon said in a statement. “She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family. This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago. Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”
No court documents have been filed yet, and a judge will need to sign off on the agreement. An email late Monday night to Pitt's attorney seeking comment was not immediately answered.
Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, were among Hollywood’s most prominent pairings for 12 years, two of them as a married couple. The Oscar winners have six children together.
Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, after a private jet flight from Europe during which she said Pitt was abusive toward her and their children. The FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services investigated Pitt's actions on the flight and deemed no action needed to be taken against him.
A judge in 2019 declared them divorced and single, but the splitting of assets and child custody needed to be separately settled.
Soon after, a private judge that the two had hired to handle the case reached a decision that included equal custody of their children, but Jolie filed to have him removed from the case over an unreported conflict of interest. An appeals court agreed, the judge was removed, and the couple had to start the process over.
During the long divorce fight, four of the couple's six children became adults, negating the need for a custody agreement for them. The only two that remain minors are 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. In June, one of their daughters, then known as Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, successfully petitioned to remove Pitt's name from hers.
Their other children are 23-year-old Maddox, 21-year-old Pax and 19-year-old Zahara.
No details of the agreement were immediately revealed, and the couple's use of the private judge — an increasingly common move among splitting celebrities in recent years — has kept the proceedings largely under wraps. There have been no official court actions in the case in nearly a year, and no indication that the two had been nearing an agreement.
Some details on their disputes, however, have been revealed through a separate lawsuit filed by Pitt in which he alleged Jolie reneged on an agreement that she would sell him her half of a French winery the two owned together. Jolie instead sold her part of the winery, Chateau Miraval, to the Tenute del Mondo wine group, a subsidiary of the Stoli Group., which Pitt said was a “vindictive” move that ruined a private space that had been a second home.
Jolie's attorneys said the winery sale agreement broke down over Pitt's demand that as part of the deal she sign a wide-ranging non-disclosure agreement about him. In court documents, she called that an attempt to cover up his physical abuse of her, which she said turned toward the children on the 2016 flight.
Along with the federal and L.A. County officials, the initial judge in the case heard testimony on the allegations before deciding to give Pitt equal custody of the children.
It's not clear how the divorce agreement will affect the winery lawsuit.
Publicly, both Pitt and Jolie have been extremely tight-lipped on everything surrounding their split, despite robust promotional tours and many media appearances for various projects.
Pitt said in a 2017 interview with GQ that he had had a drinking problem at the time of the plane incident and the split, but had since become sober and was going to therapy. He has not defended his behavior on the family flight.
Jolie has also declined to make any public statements about the family issues or the divorce, though she has sought a broader examination and airing of his behavior by the courts in both the divorce and winery cases.