‘Terrifier 3’ Tops the Box Office in France With Monster Opening Day

While Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3 doesn’t release in theaters here in the United States until tonight – get your tickets now! – the film is already making waves after its first night of release over in France. In fact, it was already making headlines prior to its actual release, with the Classification Committee over in France quite literally banning minors from seeing Terrifier 3.

As we told you earlier this week, this is the first time a horror movie has been prohibited to minors under 18 since the release of director Darren Lynn Bousman’s Saw 3 back in 2006!

The film’s French distributors told us, “We can only deplore this unexpected final decision, which will seriously hamper the release of the film, awaited by tens of thousands of French viewers and scheduled for October 9 (and of course maintained). Terrifier 3 is a film d’auteur in the purest tradition of the slasher genre, with perfectly “grand-guignolesque” and unrealistic violence. The film never takes itself too seriously, and we know that viewers will have the necessary distance and maturity to understand and appreciate this artistic approach.”

Despite all this, Bloody Disgusting has learned this morning from Terrifier 3‘s French distributors (ESC Éditions, Shadowz Films and Factoris Films) that the ultra-slasher film had a monster-sized opening in France last night, topping the box office charts in the #1 spot!

Looking for Terrifier merch? Head to your local Spirit Halloween for all things Art the Clown.

The film recorded 45,000 admissions on only 126 prints in France last night, which Daily Pop notes is “a remarkable performance for a film prohibited for those under 18.”

Terrifier 3 topped films including The Wild Robot, Joker 2, and When Fall Is Coming at the French box office last night, with first day admissions beating previously released horror hits including Titane (13k first day), Saw X (35k first day) and (33k first day).