Universal scored yet another 2018 win, as Night School scored a solid first place debut with $28 million. Meanwhile, Warner Bros’ animated family film Smallfoot got off to a decent start, while Hell Fest was a blip on the radar.

Night School opened in just over 3,000 locations with an estimated $28 million, scoring a strong per theater average of $9,302. While some had predicted the comedy would cross $30 million for the weekend, it ultimately came up just a bit short of that. This isn’t to say it’s a disappointing opening, however; with most comedies failing to bust out of the $15-20 million range in recent memory, this is a very healthy start for a film that cost just $29 million to produce. With an A- Cinemascore and a lack of upcoming comedy competition, this could possibly make it towards $80 million or more.

Moving into second was Warner Brothers’ Smallfoot, which opened on the higher end of expectations with just over $23 million. This is a decent debut, but considering the film was released into a massive 4,131 locations, it certainly feels like it should’ve done a bit better to justify such a massive theater count. Carrying a price tag of $80 million, the family picture has a long way to go before reaching profitiability, but may hold decently well considering it doesn’t face any animated competition until The Grinch in November.

Last weekends winner The House With a Clock In Its Walls fell a bit harder than expected, down 53% with a running total of $44.7 million. This drop makes sense considering the competition from Smallfoot, but does feel like it could’ve done a bit better considering the generally positive reception and 47% Saturday jump last weekend.

The Nun hit another milestone this weekend, as its worldwide total of $330 million officially makes it the highest grossing film in the Conjuring franchise. This is a bit baffling considering how toxic reception has been from both critics and audiences, but chalk it up to a lack of compelling horror competition and strong brand recognition.

Speaking of horror, Lionsgate’s low budget slasher Hell Fest failed to impress, with just $5 million – good for 6th place. This opening underlines just how hard it has been for other studios to recreate the success of Blumhouse’s low budget thrillers – take Happy Death Day for example, a film produced for a similar amount of money (Day clocked in at just $4.8 million versus Fest‘s $5.5) yet the latter opened with more than five times this amount; it’s not an exact comparison considering one was PG-13, but a $5 million debut for a fairly well marketed horror film is just not going to cut it. Chalk this up to a lack of interest in traditional slashers among a marketplace catering more towards supernatural subject material.

The last wide opener of the weekend was Little Women in 643 theaters, but only taking in $747K, for a poor average of just $1,100.

Crazy Rich Asians spent yet another weekend in the top 10, raising its domestic total to $165 million. A Simple Favor continued its impressive run, down just 36% with an impressive $43 million in the bank so far. The Predator, however, continued to bleed out, plummeting all the way down to 8th place with just $47 million so far. There’s actually a good chance that A Simple Favor ends up outgrossing The Predator.

Among other holdovers, last weekends mega flop Assassination Nation posted one of the worst second weekend holds for a wide release; after opening to just $1 million, it fell a stunning 81% for a second weekend of just $202K from over 1,000 locations. That’s the 10th biggest drop for a wide release on record, and should vanish from theaters entirely next week. Fahrenheit 11/9 also fell fairly hard, down a sharp

Moving into the specialty market we find a number of noteworthy releases; climbing documentary Free Solo scored the highest per theater average of the year, toppling the record set by Eighth Grade back in July; playing in just 4 locations, it averaged a stunning $75K. The Old Man and the Gun opened in 5 locations and averaged $30K, an almost identical debut to The Sisters Brothers last weekend.