Every year gives audiences a slew of horror movies. It’s really the most financially reliable genre out there for studios. Typically, they don’t require much of an investment and, more often than not, their returns make that investment worth it.
But what about the ones that either seemingly came out of nowhere or did even better than folks were expecting? On the former end, horror movies don’t really need teaser trailers a year in advance, like one’s average superhero movie. But, sometimes, there’s hardly any marketing at all and, yet, the product ends up attracting substantial interest. The movies that follow exceeded expectations in at least some way. Perhaps they slightly reinvented their genre, and thus were far from a sure thing. Or, in other cases, perhaps they had potential…but few could have seen just how high they’d fly.
10 A Quiet Place
The marketing material for A Quiet Place was impressive back in late 2017 and early 2018, but it wasn’t a sure thing. John Krasinski was a scene-stealer on The Office, but he’s never quite been a bankable movie star. Furthermore, neither of his previous directorial efforts, comedy-dramas Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and The Hollars, made much of a dent at the box office.
Loud at the Box Office
In other words, the sci-fi horror movie seemed like an unexpected venture for him. But, he was a natural, and thanks to that aforementioned marketing material and strong critical reviews, the movie opened to a monster $50 million. It also had stronger legs than the average horror film, ending its domestic run with $188 million.
9 Barbarian
Zach Cregger’s Barbarian is one of those movies that seemingly came out of nowhere. Try and recall any marketing material you saw prior to its debut unless you were seeing another horror movie shortly before its debut on September 9, 2022. It’s also one of those movies which shows that, even in a genre as crowded as horror, quality rises to the top.
Low Budget, High Profit
Was it a blockbuster? Not quite, but its $10 million opening was already over twice its $4.5 million budget. And, thanks to strong word of mouth, it ended up netting ten times its price tag. A deserved profit, considering Barbarian is well-written, well-directed, unpredictable, and features a phenomenal lead performance from Georgina Campbell.
8 The Blair Witch Project
Filmed on the very definition of a shoestring budget, it wasn’t a surprise that The Blair Witch Project made a profit. What was a surprise was just how gargantuan that profit was. For the sake of specificity, its was shot for $60,000 (still just $750,000 after post-production edits) and its domestic total was $140.5 million.
One of the Most Profitable Movies Ever Made
In other words, it became a cultural touchstone, a movie discussed on the macro scale. And, considering it only opened in 27 theaters, it was a movie that generated substantial interest over time, not right off the bat. By its third weekend, it was in 1,101 theaters, 2,142 its third, and peaked at 2,538 its sixth. And considering it netted a further $108 million overseas, it was discussed and seen all around the world.
7 Friday the 13th
The extent of John Carpenter’s Halloween was unexpected in its own right back in 1978. But that success ended up being so monumental that every studio, big and small, was itching to replicate it. And, considering director Sean S. Cunningham took an ad out in Variety knowing nothing about his upcoming project save for the title, it’s fairly impressive that Friday the 13th easily became the most successful replicator of that success. It also helped that it was one of the first to try and do so.
Ki Ki Ki…Money Money Money
But, could anyone have predicted that it would go on to earn nearly seven times its already-impressive opening weekend of $5.8 million? Not likely. And, as we all know, the franchise was just getting started.
6 Get Out
Like a few other directors on this list, Get Out marked the first time a director made their horror movie debut. And, like John Krasinski with A Quiet Place, Jordan Peele was a known individual. But, also like Krasinski, he was a known individual who had made his name in comedy.
A Critical and Commercial Favorite
It’s a movie that couldn’t have too much spoiled in the marketing, and thankfully it wasn’t. But the marketing was still enough to get people talking. But, did those people know it would earn over five times its domestic opening of $33.4 million? No, the same way they didn’t know it would score an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination.
5 M3GAN
The killer doll subgenre has never been a lock at the box office. Even Child’s Play has struggled to really make a dent more often than not. But toss in an AI twist and surprisingly strong marks from critics, and you get a hit.
A Killer Doll with Legs
It’s the timeliness of that AI element that really bolstered M3GAN, but it could have gone a different way. January is a dumping ground month for studios, the period when they drop stuff they’ve spent too much money on and have little faith in, e.g. Dolittle. It’s also known to give audiences at least one horror movie, usually a high-concept one with a decent but unspectacular opening weekend and a swift decline afterwards (for instance, this year’s Night Swim). One wouldn’t be unjustified in assuming this for M3GAN prior to release, but instead it opened to about $30.5 million and, even better, more than tripled that domestically.
4 Saw
Like the entry that follows this one, Saw came from a virtually unknown director. That’s not a death warrant for a horror film, but it’s a genre that benefits from coming from a known quantity. And, now, James Wan is arguably a more reliable hit maker than either John Carpenter or the late Wes Craven.
Who Would’ve Guessed Torture Was a Key to Box Office Success?
But, Saw’s overall tone and content didn’t exactly make it a shoe-in for box office success. And, yet, it opened to over $18 million, and even benefited from some slight drops over the course of its next few weekends. Very impressive for a low-budget film without a big name behind the camera and two names that had already reached their peak (Danny Glover and Cary Elwes) in front of it.
3 The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense came from a virtually unknown director and had Bruce Willis playing against type in the lead role. But, thanks to an inventive concept and strong word of mouth, it became a hit…weekend after weekend. On one hand, its nearly $27 million opening was higher than most expected for it, but it’s what happened the next few weekends that’s the most telling.
Basically the Titanic of Thrillers
M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller dropped only 3.4% its sophomore weekend, 7% its third, and 16.1% its fourth. Its fifth weekend actually saw a jump of almost 14%, giving it another $22.9 million, which isn’t all that far a drop from its first three days. It was fairly unprecedented, as was the fact it was playing in more theaters its ninth weekend than its first.
2 Smile
Smile benefited from some decent marketing, but the main takeaway most had from it was “That looks generic.” After all, Ouija: Origin of Evil had smiling kids in its trailers six years earlier. But mostly it appeared reminiscent of Truth or Dare, which was released four years before Smile and was both eviscerated by critics and failed to make much of a financial dent.
Smile for Small Subsequent Weekend Drops
But, the reviews and word of mouth for Smile were far, far different from Truth or Dare. It opened to $22.6 million, which was respectable, but the story of its success, like other entries on this list, came throughout the remainder of its run. With $106 million domestic, the movie nearly quintupled its opening weekend, which is virtually unheard of for a modern horror film.
1 The Strangers
The Strangers proved to be lucrative counterprogramming against the triple threat of Iron Man (in its fifth weekend), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (in its second weekend), and Sex and the City, which debuted alongside it. But, unlike M. Night Shyamalan’s wretched The Happening, it wasn’t anticipated to be a huge moneymaker for the Summer movie season. After all, it’s not a movie with a massive hook, even one as silly as killer plants causing people to take their own lives on a wide scale.
A Good Summer for Liv Tyler
And yet, even in a crowded market, it was a hit. The low $9 million budget helped, but so too did the better than expected reviews, which championed it as a film that didn’t pull its punches. It wasn’t a blockbuster, but with a $21 million opening and a $52.6 million final domestic tally, it did very well for itself.
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