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Halloween, the reboot of the 1978 classic, has made a killing at the US box office, raking in over $77m (\u00a359m) during its opening weekend. It makes it the biggest debut ever for a horror film with a female lead, and the biggest debut ever for any film with a female lead over 55.<\/p>\nJamie Lee Curtis reprises her role as Laurie Strode in the movie.<\/p>\n
Halloween now ranks as the second-highest debut for an October release, set earlier this month by Venom.<\/p>\n
How do the critics rate the new Halloween?<\/p>\n
Jamie Lee Curtis: I’ve never had this much attention<\/p>\n
“I am enormously proud of this film,” said Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions, who co-financed the film with Miramax.<\/p>\n
“Halloween brings the franchise back to life in a fresh, relevant and fun way that is winning over fans and critics alike.”<\/p>\n
Curtis also celebrated via Twitter, writing: “OK, I’m going for one BOAST post,” adding the hash tag #WomenGetThingsDone.<\/p>\n
Her Laurie is seen as a grandmother in the latest instalment of the series, who has been waiting for an opportunity to confront Michael Myers once more.<\/p>\n
Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, said the success of Halloween is down to the 40-year gap between the original and the latest instalment.<\/p>\n
“There had been quite some time since the original film,” Orr said.<\/p>\n
“You combine that with the return of a tremendous star in Jamie Lee Curtis, great writing, great filmmaking. All of that comes together as a perfect storm.”<\/p>\n
However, the film has received mixed reviews from critics, with Forbes commenting: “It’s not very good or tightly-directed, and it fails as a character play and a scary movie.”
\nEd Potton in The Times described it as “a painfully workmanlike horror that could have been made at any point in the past four decades”.<\/p>\n