Who the hell saw this coming? In what is expected to be a David-vs.-Goliath situation at the weekend box office between the indies and a major Hollywood studio, Cineverse’s gory slasher horror film is being released unrated. Scarer 3 looks dirty $11 million+ this weekend, if not more, fully pushing the Warner Bros bomb Joker: Folie à Deux from the first place.

Here’s the pencil of everything. Rejection of Disney/Marvel fanboys The miracles a 78% freefall during its second weekend last November, the biggest drop for an MCU title, after a lackluster opening of $46.1 million. And as you know Joker: Folie à Deux and its D CinemaScore is lagging behind Miracles (which received a B CinemaScore) upon opening of $37.6 million, and midweek grosses of $1.8 million on Monday and $2.6 million on Tuesday (for comparison: The miracles did $2.3 million and $3.3 million in those two days respectively).

On the low side, if Joker 2 takes a 70% fall, which means a $11.2 million second weekend, but if it follows miracles, it would be $8 million or less.

After we included the US in 2022 Scarer 2 for $250,000, Cineverse made a ton of money from its nearly $11 million domestic take, with loot to boot, including a spike in streaming subs for its ScreamBox service. A cinema release with 2,300 screens Scarer 3 is scheduled for this weekend, with previews starting Thursday at 8 p.m. Cineverse invested less than $5 million in it Scarer 3of which less than $1 million was spent on marketing. How is that? It only marketed the film in its Cineverse universe through streaming services, podcasts and Bloody disgusting.

We are already hearing that the shows from Thursday to Friday are sold out. The question is whether the marketing spend is enough to keep the word of mouth going and bring in more people. Iconic Events takes care of the distribution of Scarer 3.

Written and directed by Damien Leone, the slasher pic follows Art the Clown, who is about to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting citizens of Miles County as they peacefully sleep on Christmas Eve. David Howard Thornton plays Art the Clown, and Lauren LaVera also stars. Thirty-two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes stand at 88% Scarer 3.

There are a slew of big releases this weekend, though nothing with double-digit million-dollar openings is expected to happen. Sony is bringing their critically acclaimed (79% certified fresh) film festival darling Saturday evening wide at 2,300 locations for a possible $3.5 million – $5 million to take. The film’s predominant money was in Los Angeles and New York City. The $30 million Jason Reitman-directed pic about the behind-the-scenes madness of Saturday evening live on the eve of its first broadcast has grossed $661,000 through Monday after a platform release that began on September 27. Previews are Thursday at 2 p.m. at 2,025 locations.

Focus Features has the Morgan Neville-directed documentary Piece by pieceabout Pharrell Williams and told in LEGO form, who could see $3M-$5M+ as well as at 1,851 locations. The film cost $16 million before P&A. Universal took the world with it. The ultimate comp at the end of the day is documentaries that end in the mid-teens RBG with $14 million. Pharrell is a big part of the NBCUniversal universe and has been a judge on NBC’s The voice, plus he has his next live-action feature, Michel Gondry’s musical feature Atlantis, set for May 9, 2025 at major Uni. That film is based on Williams’ childhood at the Virginia Beach Atlantis Apartments in the summer of 1977. Piece by piecereviews start Thursday at 2pm and RT reviews are 91% fresh.

There’s also the US acquisition of the Donald Trump biopic by Briarcliff Entertainment, The student Starring Sebastian Stan as the young real estate baron, Jeremy Strong as his infamous mentor as Roy Cohn and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Pic has been booked at 1,740 locations and is only expected to open in the low single digits after all the headlines surrounding the Ali Abbasi-directed film, including the Trump campaign threatening legal action at the Cannes Film Festival premiere. Reviews are 79% new on RT. Tomorrow the previews start at 4 p.m.