CBS News
From the big screen to trick-or-treat: Hit movies of 2024 inspire top trending Halloween costumes
Hollywood’s latest hits are setting this year’s Halloween costume trends.
The CBS News data team used Google Trends’ annual FrightGeist tool and box office data to see how many of this year’s most popular costumes are inspired by characters from top-grossing films. From rebooted classics to fresh superhero revamps, people are dressing up as characters they’ve watched in theaters all year.
Data from the tool shows that the movies inspiring the top trending costume ideas aren’t always the ones topping the box office. Leading the costume trend is Shrunken Head Bob from the 2024 sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” even though it ranks as the fourth highest-grossing film domestically this year.
Despite “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” dominating the box office as the top two films this year, their costumes rank a bit lower on Google’s FrightGeist list of top trending costumes.
The data team found a correlation between FrightGeist’s top trending costumes being influenced by some of the 10 highest-grossing films.
We looked at five films from which the most popular costumes originate: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Dune: Part 2,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and “Inside Out 2.”
Of the five, “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” tie in having the highest search interest across the US over the past 12 months.
Across the country, more states searched for “Inside Out 2” (31 states) compared to “Deadpool & Wolverine” (19 states) over the past 12 months. The District of Columbia was the only U.S. region with a different top search, favoring “Dune: Part 2.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Over the past 12 months in the U.S., search interest in the original “Beetlejuice” has been nearly three times higher than that for the new film. Of the five films, this sequel was the only film searched less than the original was.
Inside Out 2
“Inside Out 2” generated nearly twice the search interest as the original “Inside Out” over the past year in the U.S.
Deadpool & Wolverine
“Deadpool & Wolverine” generated more than twice the search interest as the original “Deadpool” over the past year in the US.
Dune: Part Two
“Dune: Part Two” generated a little more than the search interest as “Dune: Part One” over the past year in the US.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” had over three times the search interest of “Godzilla vs. Kong” (its American prequel) and had slightly greater search interest than “Godzilla Minus One” (the 2023 Japanese film).
Billionaire Elon Musk has been ordered to attend a Philadelphia court hearing on Thursday after he was sued by District Attorney Larry Krasner over his $1 million giveaway to voters.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in a courtroom at City Hall in Center City, according to a court document.
Last week, Krasner sued Musk and alleged that Musk and his super PAC are trying to influence voters in next week’s presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The Philadelphia District Attorney is charged with protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lotteries. The DA is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” Krasner said in a statement announcing the complaint last week.
Musk, who founded Tesla and SpaceX, has thrown his full support behind Trump in his run for a second term in the White House. Nearly two weeks ago, he vowed to hand out $1 million a day until Election Day on Nov. 5 to voters who signed his PAC’s petition supporting the First Amendment and Second Amendment of the Constitution.
Some experts have questioned the legality of Musk’s actions to give voters $1 million.
“The actions that we’re seeing … it violates federal law pretty clearly. Actually, I don’t think it’s a particularly close call,” Adav Noti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, told CBS News last week.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also questioned Musk’s giveaway.
“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last week.
Musk has been very active in supporting Trump in Pennsylvania, one of the key battleground states in the election. He was in the Philadelphia area for a town hall on Oct. 17 calling on Pennsylvanians to get registered to vote.
At the town hall in Ridley High School in Delaware County, Musk called Pennsylvania “linchpin” for the 2024 election.
“I’m here for a very important reason, which is – I can’t emphasize this enough – Pennsylvania, I think, is the linchpin in this election,” Musk said at the time. “This election, I think, is going to decide the fate of America, and along with the fate of America, the fate of Western civilization.”
Joe Exotic, made famous in the Netflix series “Tiger King” and currently serving time in federal prison, says he is engaged to a fellow inmate in Texas and hopes to get married.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, is currently incarcerated at Federal Medical Center Fort Worth. He submitted a marriage application to the federal prison to wed fellow inmate Jorge Marquez Flores, he announced in a news release Wednesday.
Maldonado was convicted in 2019 on 21 counts, including 19 counts of wildlife crimes and two counts of hiring hitmen to kill animal activist Carole Baskin. He is serving a 21-year sentence.
His fiancé, 33-year-old Jorge Marquez Flores, originally from Mexico, is serving time for immigration-related issues, according to Maldonado’s news release.
According to Maldonado, both men are optimistic the prison will approve their application and have “high hopes” that Maldonado’s appeal will succeed. He hopes the two would be released from prison in mid-2025.
In his news release, Maldonado also requested a presidential pardon for both he and Flores, as well as asylum for Flores.
“I wish someone that is President or wins the Presidency would do the right thing and pardon me so I could move past this nightmare that my own country has caused for the last 7 years of my life,” Maldonado wrote in the news release. “All I did was build a zoo and some people were very jealous. Then I was put into prison by my own country.”
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.