Paramount is smiling broadly this weekend as its chilling pic Smile continued to top the chart in its second outing with a projected $17.6 million from 3,659 theaters.  That’s a drop of just 22 percent, one of the best figures of all time for the horror genre.

The news was equally good abroad.  Smile earned $17.5 million from 61 markets for a foreign cume of $40 million and a worldwide cume of $88.9 million to make the $17 million gross.

Smile earned more than enough to beat Sony’s new family film Lyle, Crocodile, which opened to $11.5 million domestically.  Sony expects the film to take advantage of Monday’s Indigenous Peoples Day holiday and earn a total of $13.4 million through Monday.

Heading into the weekend, most of Hollywood expected Lyle, Lyle, based on the children’s book of the same name, to win the three-day frame, if only by a narrow margin.  The film currently holds a 68 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned an A-CinemaScore from audiences.

The bombshell of the weekend is David O. Russell’s star-studded film Amsterdam.  The mystery comedy opened to a $6.5 estimate from 2,005 locations after panning from critics.  It currently holds a 33 review score on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the lowest of the director’s career, alongside stars Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington.  Audiences gave it a somewhat better ranking or a B CinemaScore.

Amsterdam is a New Regency film distributed by Disney.  As the reviews started rolling in, tracking lowered its $10 million projection, as the film’s target audience — older adults and especially older women — are more influenced by critics.  However, even this number was on the rise. 

Universal, which made the Bros., was not left entirely unscathed.  Overseas, the studio’s George Clooney-Julia Roberts romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise topped $60 million ahead of its Oct. 21 domestic debut.

At one point, bullish analysts and box office exponents believed that Lyle, Lyle and Amsterdam could both open in the mid-teens. 

Woman King and Don’t Worry Darling rounded out the top five, followed by the re-release of Avatar. 

Sony’s Woman King took No. 4 with $5.3 million for a domestic total of $54.1 million.  OFI Warner.’  Don’t Worry Darling followed with $2.5 million for a domestic total of $38.5 million and a global cume of $69.3 million.

James Cameron’s 3D remake of Avatar continued to impress, earning $2.6 million for a domestic total of $23.3 million.  In total, the release from Disney and 20th Century has grossed $71.9 million worldwide.

Unlike Smile, Bros was far from happy in its second weekend.  The gay-rom com, directed by Nicholas Stoller and Billy Eichner, fell to No. 6 or No. 7 with an estimated $2.2 million for a 10-day domestic total of $8.9 million (the film fell 55 percent).  Eichner took to Twitter last weekend after the film’s fifth-place opening, saying homophobia was the main reason for the poor showing and encouraged everyone to see the film.

Elsewhere, the awards box office is starting in earnest as Todd Field’s Tár and Ruben Ostlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness open in select theaters to promising numbers.

From Focus Features and starring Cate Blanchett, Tár posted the weekend’s top location average and one of the best of the year, or $40,000, as it played in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles.  It was No. 1 in three theaters, including AMC Lincoln Square in N.Yl and AMC Grove in LA

Triangle of Sadness, by Neon, chose a wider opening or 10 locations.  The Woody Harrelson starrer is expected to post a location average of $21,500 or more.