Horror, one of cinema's oldest niche genres, has historically also been one of the most profitable and resilient at the box office thanks to low production costs, and the way such films lend themselves to the theatrical viewing experience. In recent years, Horror films have consistently performed well, even outpacing superhero movies in 2022 and 2023, with notable successes such as “Smile” and “M3GAN” providing much-needed hits for US distributors grappling with changing consumer behaviors in the age of streaming. Indeed, among the five major US studios Horror is the only genre to have consistently grown its share of theatrical release slates post-pandemic, accounting for over 17% of theatrically-released titles in the US so far in 2024 compared to just under 11% in 2021.
Not all Horror movies are equal, however. According to Ampere Analysis’ thematic analysis of US Horror releases, one particular sub-genre, Monster Horror, has dominated 2024’s release calendar in comparison to recent years. It is distinguished by a focus on physical creatures, whether alien or mythical (as opposed to Supernatural Horror, for example, which revolves around intangible, often invisible forces). This year’s two highest grossing Horror films so far, 20th Century Studio’s “Alien: Romulus” and Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One,” both trade heavily in the Monster Horror sub-genre. However, outside of these hits, big-budget creature features have had mixed fortunes at the box office.
Among this year’s Monster Horror films in the US, while vampire-themed movies have been most prevalent, none has succeeded with audiences as studios might have hoped. The most prominent of these, Universal’s “Abigail,” grossed only $42.4m worldwide against its $28m budget. Universal also struggled to succeed with vampire-focused features at the box office in 2023, with neither dark comedy “Renfield” nor the similarly Dracula-inspired “Last Voyage of the Demeter” recouping their production budgets. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Salem’s Lot” remake was diverted straight to streamer Max from a previously planned theatrical release. Should Robert Eggers’ anticipated remake of Horror classic “Nosferatu” face similar challenges at the US box office in December, it might signal a broader decline in Hollywood’s interest in vampire films in the immediate future.
As the success of “Alien: Romulus” and “A Quiet Place: Day One” attests, there are still big-budget franchises in the Monster Horror space which justify their production costs with impressive box office returns. However, costly studio failures in the sub-genre in 2024 contrast with the runaway success of certain less effects-heavy indie Horror titles — Neon’s distribution title “Longlegs,” which grossed over $100m worldwide and was produced by C2 Motion Picture Group for less than $10m, being the prime example.
While Horror’s popularity with US audiences is well-established, as the studios look to streamline spending into 2025, focusing more on low-budget hits rather than banking on costly, effects- and star-led productions will become a necessity.
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