Yikes. Halloween is still a month away but it's downright spooky how dead this weekend is shaping up to be. Appropriately enough, horror-for-kids flick The House With a Clock In Its Walls easily won Friday night, taking in $7.8 million on its way to a projected $25 million opening weekend. Eli Roth's first PG offering—which stars Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, and Owen Vaccaro—out-paced A Simple Favor in its second weekend ($3.3 million) and The Nun in its third ($2.95 million).

Meanwhile, a trio of newcomers got off to equally less-than-spectacular debuts. Life Itself—the saccharine look at life and love from This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman—stumbled immediately out of the starting gate, coming in seventh place on Friday with its $760,000 take. The film has been taking an absolute beating from all sides for days now, a situation not exactly soothed by Fogelman himself blaming "primarily white male critics who don’t like anything that has any emotion.” (I hereby invite Dan Fogelman to watch me openly weep while watching Eighth Grade for the 16th time.) Our own Matt Golberg bluntly called the film "a movie about life that will make you pray for death."

Michael Moore's latest documentary, Fahrenheit 11/9, debuted to similarly cold numbers, taking in just over $1 million and landing in seventh place. It's currently tracking toward the $3 million mark, about $20 million less than Moore's record-breaking opening for 2004's Fahrenheit 9/11.

Finally, Sam Levinson's bloody social satire Assassination Nation is all but non-existent in the standings after earning less than $500,000 on Friday night. The film—wnich stars Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, and Maude Apatow—sold to partners Neon and the Russo Brothers for $10 million back when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Take a look at Friday's numbers below and check back tomorrow for full weekend estimates. (Numbers via Box Office Mojo)

Rank

Title

Friday

Total

1.

The House With a Clock in Its Walls 

$7,823,00

$7,823,000

2.

A Simple Favor 

$3,300,000

$25,462,414

3.

The Nun

$2,955,000

$93,600,307

4.

The Predator  

$2,450,000

$34,185,122

5.

Crazy Rich Asians

$1,850,000

$154,774,483

life-itself-oscar-isaac-olivia-wilde
Image via Amazon Studios
fahrenheit-11-9-michael-moore-jared-kushner
Image via TIFF
assassination-nation-image
Image via Neon