'Regretting You' wins spooky slow N. American box office

Paramount's "Regretting You," the latest film adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel, finished first place in a lackluster Halloween weekend at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday.

Directed by Josh Boone, the romantic drama tells the story of a mother (Allison Williams) and teenage daughter (McKenna Grace) navigating life and love after tragedy strikes.

The film took in $8.1 million in its second week out, according to industry watcher Exhibitors Relations, narrowly beating Universal's horror sequel "Black Phone 2," which earned $8.0 million.

The thriller sees Ethan Hawke's devilish villain return to terrorize a group of youths, this time at a camp.

Last week's first place finisher -- Japanese anime feature "Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc" -- dropped to third place with $6.0 million.

It tells the dark fantasy story of orphaned teenager Denji, who is killed by the yakuza but reborn by merging with his pet devil to become Chainsaw Man.

In fourth place at $4.8 million was "Bugonia," Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos's latest collaboration with Oscar-winner Emma Stone.

The apocalyptic satire, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, follows the abduction of a high-profile CEO (Stone) by two conspiracy theorists who believe she is an alien.

Fifth place went to "Back to the Future," re-released for the film's 40th anniversary.

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The top 12 films took in $44.8 million for the weekend, according to Exhibitor Relations, a 32 percent drop from the same period the previous year.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere," ($3.8 million)

"Tron: Ares," ($2.8 million)

"Stitch Ahead," ($2.1 million)

"Good Fortune," ($1.5 million)

"One Battle After Another," ($1.2 million)

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