Smile, some box office hope

And hit '00s show gets docuseries exposé

What to know

• Smile and Barbarian offer box office optimism… Horror movies still work at the box office, we know this, but they also tend to have big drop offs after opening weekend. Interestingly, that hasn’t been the case with Smile and Barbarian, who have both turned impressive word-of-mouth campaigns into box office staying power. For what it’s worth, lack of competition and the spooky season also helped. No matter the reason, strong box office returns are great news for a theatrical business in desperate need of some. And expect the good times to roll on as Halloween Ends eyes a $50 million opening weekend — even though it’s getting a simultaneous Peacock release! 😀