Genre films had been soaring at the box office, at least until Black Panther annihilated the competition. MGM’s Eli Roth-directed Death Wish, already disappointing in its debut last weekend, totaled up to $23,875,301 on a reported $30M budget. Without an international to report (yet), it’s looking at a heft loss in the guesstimated $15M+ range. Even with rave reviews, Paramount Pictures’ Annihilation is struggling to find an audience. The genre mashup is sitting at $26M domestic on a $40M budget (with no international reported yet), offering a potential $25M loss. Brutal.
As for newer titles, Aviron’s Strangers: Prey at Night opened to $10.5M, which isn’t necessarily terrible, but also isn’t anything to boast about. There’s no reported budget, but an educated guess would put it around $5M, and depending on the film’s marketing spend, the Johannes Roberts-directed sequel would need about $30M worldwide to hit the profit zone. I expect it to top $20M here in the States, so an international run and sales will be key to its financial success.
Lastly, Rob Cohen’s The Hurricane Heist unsurprisingly bombed horrifically debuting with only $3M on a $35M budget.
There’s plenty more horror to come this year, so hopefully, the genre can quickly regain its footing better than Cohen can direct an action sequence…