It was a lousy October for Hollywood, topping off a not-so-good summer, with box office income down in both cases, making many wonder if moviemakers aren't just plain out of touch with what Americans want.
The figures from last month show huge disappointments in audience turnout, despite much-anticipated movies like Duane Johnson's "Smashing Machine" and the second Disney "Tron" sequel.
Breitbart critic John Nolte poses questions of why America would even want a new "Tron," when the first two weren't so good, and who needs a musical remake of the 40-year-old "Kiss of the Spider Woman?"
But longtime Texas movie critic Joe Leyton says just like any business, movies have their up years and down years.
And sometimes their "way down" years, but "it always looks like a disaster until, out of nowhere, a big hit movie arrives."
"The terms 'Flop' and 'Hit' have definitely changed their meaning over the past few years, particularly the past couple of years, now that everybody and his brother is posting online the latest box office information."
Leyton says he wasn't surprised by the success of "Black Phone 2" but it's a sequel to "a very popular horror movie.
"Y'know people keep talking about how there are so many comic book movies are out there, but has anyone every tried to keep track of how many horror movies open every week, much less every month, the former Houston Post critic says.
"I wonder if a decade from now people will be looking back at 2025 and say people kept going to horror movies as some kind of exorcism of their own fears."
As for his personal feelings, Leyton says he's been critiquing movies for so long he still can't believe how much movies are losing these days.
"I never thought I'd see the day that a movie that opened with a $25 million weekend gross is considered a failure."