The 2010 Horror Box Office

2010 played out as a year where studios cashed in on the box office draw of the horror genre based off the previous year's numbers. There were quite a few horror films that made their way into theaters in 2009, and overall the numbers were not too bad as far as performance goes, which reflects greatly on 2010 where there were even more cinematic horror releases for moviegoers to choose from.

As was the case with 2009, the horror seemed to come in droves. With an overload of bloody releases coming in the months of August, September and October, the horror genre was once again competing with itself. Still, there were a few genre films that made an impact, however, the non-sequel/non-remake movie presence could have been better on the higher grossing end of the spectrum, but remakes weren't exactly the biggest splash this past year, either. Alright, lets take a loot at the (domestic) numbers and positions for the films that made an impact at the box office in 2010. 

Unsurprisingly, at the number 4 spot, Twilight Saga: Eclipse simply pulled in straight cash, homey, with over 350 million bucks. As much as people will cry about it not being "their" type of horror, it's still a vampire story, which makes it something that shouldn't be ignored in this situation. The previous Twilight film also came in at number four in 2009 but made under 300 million at the box office, so it looks like the Saga will continue to grow, despite the discontent for it by so many.

Balancing out the Twilight scales a little bit was Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, which pulled in at a solid number 16 for 2010. Regardless of some genre fans debating its validity as a horror film, Shutter Island was able to scare up a nice chunk of change with 128 million dollars. This is something that reflects upon the fact that there is still an audience eager for something original and made with some sort of respect to their intelligence.     

In what I would have never expected, the number 34 film, Paranormal Activity 2, did very well at the box office with a gross of over 84 million dollars. I also never expected it to be any good, either, but the general consensus with horror fans was that it was a solid sequel to a film that didn't really need a part two attached. Either way - no matter what the fans thought - even if the budget was much higher than that of the first film, it still made all that dough with a measly cost of 3 million bucks. So I think it's safe to say we can keep a look out for PA3 next October. You heard it hear first! Or probably somewhere else, but I'll just pretend like I broke the story.

Sleepwalking in at number 46, A Nightmare On Elm Street received harsh criticism from most horror fans and critics alike. I know it's that negative talk that has kept me from taking a chance and seeing the film yet (but it is inevitable), and I think that word of mouth spread to box office as the film only dreamt up a measly 63 million dollars. In comparison to its 35 million dollar production budget, it's a modest hit, sure, but I think the return of Freddy was expected to be a lot bigger than it was.  

After a long and difficult road to the big screen, The Wolfman won over more horror fans than I think most people would have ever expected. However, sitting not so pretty at number 48, with an intake of 61 million dollars, the film didn't do so hot. Especially in comparison to an estimated budget of 150 MILLION BUCKS! Train wreck, indeed. Taking the 50th spot in 2010 was the never say die franchise, Resident Evil: Afterlife, which I think might still have a long afterlife with a 60 million dollar domestic run. Now, that doesn't sound great since it had a 60 million dollar budget, but with a worldwide gross of over 233 million bucks, it's a sure bet that Alice isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The mostly welcome non-vs. Predators did modestly pulling in 62 million to nab the number 62 spot for the year, which isn't too bad when compared to the 40 million dollar budget the movie movie was made for. And with the addition of a new dimension and the possibility of it being the final film in the franchise, Saw 3D came back from 2009's poor showing, bringing in almost 46 million dollars (more than double the 20 million dollar production cost) to take the 66 spot.

Hitting the final stretch at 72, The Last Exorcism showed a strong presence with a 41 million dollar intake. The film was budgeted at less than 2 million, so there's really nothing but upswing there for both the cash generated as well as for lower-budgeted horror. Box office intake-to-budget factored in for both the 74 and 75 spots, Legion and The Crazies. The former pulled in 40 million over its 26 million dollar budget, with the latter hitting just under 40 million with a budget of 20.

There were plenty of other theatrical horror films that came out in 2010, but they, unfortunately, did jack shit when it came to nabbing any sort of audience. When I did this look back in 2009, the (higher end) horror box office had seven original films, three sequels and only two remakes. In 2010, we had three original films, five sequels (Predators being a sequel, in my correct opinion *wink-wink*) and three remakes. I can't say if it looks much better than it did last year as the remakes all didn't do the greatest, but there were a handful of original films that couldn't even make the cut in 2010. Sequels, on the other hand, may have showed just why they will always be a part of our lives, which is okay with me. Kind of. It'll be interesting to see what 2011 brings us (more sequels), and hopefully what it does bring is a few quality horror films for us to look back on in a year from now.

8 is Great?!

Finally set in stone, the 8th and final film has been announced for the 4th annual After Dark Films Horrorfest 8 Films to Die For line-up. Written by Kelly Palmer and directed by Chris Moore, Kill Theory is about a group of seven college friends that celebrate their upcoming graduation at a secluded vacation home. Things take an ugly turn when the group encounter a sadistic unknown madman who forces them to kill one another in order to survive. Whomever is left standing at 6 am the next morning, is the one that is allowed to walk away with his or her life.

Sounds interesting enough to me and Kill Theory seems to have elements of Saw and even a bit of Cabin Fever and Battle Royal in a way. All of the After Dark Films acquired for the upcoming festival (which begins January 29th) have a lot of promise and I have already heard positive things about Lake Mungo, which is one that I really wanted to check out even before reading a few solid reviews.   

Now that the movies are all in place, there is a tight little trailer for the festival and to be completely honest, it gets me pumped for this line-up and I have pretty high hopes for it. There have been some real gems in the previous three installments, but those gems were hidden in piles of mediocre-to-bad. I would love to see After Dark come out with a strong set of movies, if not for the fact that they are spotlighting independent horror cinema and giving films a chance that might not have gotten one any other way. And while I will more than likely not have any chance to see any of them ‘round these parts, at least I know there will be a DVD release soon enough. 

When a non-foreign language trailer for Kill Theory is available, I will be sure to post it, but for now, here is the trailer for the festival itself. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the line-up’s potential and what you think looks good!

The 2009 Horror Box Office

There was an incredibly strong presence of horror in theaters this year, in fact, there was almost too many at one point. Late in July, Orphan and The Collector came out, followed by The Perfect Getaway in the beginning of August, then, on the same exact day, The Final Destination and Halloween 2 (or H2 if you're hip to be square) went head-to-head in a battle to end all battles (okay, maybe not end all)! By time we got to September, with even more films like Sorority Row, Pandorum, Whiteout, and Jennifer's Body, the horror market was flooded and nobody gave a shit anymore. I try and see as many horror films as I can theatrically, as long as their horror films that are appealing and promising, but there's no way you can be successful in a genre with such an overkill. We can't afford it! At least I can't and if you can, then good on ya...and give me some loot sucka!

Still, even with that said, horror also had a decent presence at the box office this year too and while we're not talking top of the box office numbers, we are looking at how much money some of these films brought in. A movie can pull in $40 million and look like a near flop, but if the budget is only $15 to $20 million, well, you can call that a minor success. This is that case with most of the horror genre as is the case with many of the releases I am going over here today. These are the movies that made some bank, whether it be a whole lot, or just enough to keep some dignity and presence. *Note all these figures are time sensitive and as updated as I freaking feel like, okay?! Oh, and they're domestic. Oh-oh, and fahkin Avatar makes all this just that much more difficult*

I'd be iniquitous if I didn't start at one of the highest grossing films of the year...and since I have never seen any of these films, I won't waste anytime taking unfair shots at them, but they are a part of the horror genre (maybe not yours or mine), whether some would like to admit it or not. The 4th highest grossing horror film of '09 was The Twilight Saga: New Moon with $$280,924,000 and still going. No real surprise and with figures like that, no need to even bother comparing them to the budget - these films make bank and bubblegum that you can buy at FYE.

Now while New Moon was the highest grossing horror release of the year, the most successful film of the year, period, was Paranormal Activity, which came in at number 27 with a whopping $107,735,000. Compare that number to a budget of $15 thousand and you have the second coming of Blair Witch. This would be the best thing for horror in many ways and the worst thing too. These numbers really show what can be done with some drive and passion, but the imitations are sure to come, with plenty of Hollywood bullery (is that a word?) putting in their two unnecessary cents. However, Paranormal Activity being more than a few years old is from the Blair Witch influence if you ask me, as well as Cloverfield, [REC], and all the other handy cam films of late, so I think Blair Witch's shadow is long looming and maybe imitation isn't such a bad thing after all.

In what was a bit of a surprise, Zombieland landed at the number 38 spot with $75,590,286. Compared to a $23.6 million dollar budget, the film was very successful, in a time when most people are so tired of Zombie films - especially ones going the comedic route. I liked the film and am very happy that it did well - in fact, it did well enough that a sequel is already in the works. Zombieland barely nudged out the 39th most highest grossing film of the year, which was Coraline and its gross of $75,286,229. Not really a horror movie you say? Well, it isn't, but it comes pretty darned close and Coraline was one of the darkest children's animation films I have seen in quite some time. Unfortunately, the numbers for the film aren't so good when compared to its $60 million dollar budget, but it did okay at least.

The Final Destination flew in and landed at number 46 with $66,477,700 and with a budget of $40 million; this is a franchise that has really showed up with every release. What's more impressive, is this came out directly against Zombie's H2 and completely slaughtered it at the box office, which if you've seen H2, it shouldn't be a surprise. At 49, every ones favorite remake, Friday the 13th slashed it's way in with $65,002,019 against a $19 million dollar budget. More than enough to reignite the franchise, which received very mixed reviews from horror fans. I personally liked it...enough.

All right, I'm gonna speed this up - things are getting repetitive and you probably aren't even reading anymore...and if you aren't, then I'm taking you off my booty call list. Maybe. Alrighty, The Haunting in Connecticut with $55,389,516 came in at 55 overall, but no clue what the budget was since it's not available anywhere. Strange?! A nice surprise was My Bloody Valentine 3-D doing $51,545,952 to its budget of $15 million and taking the 59 spot. Even with a hottie swap, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans took the 63rd place with an okay $45,802,315 compared to $35 mil budget. While The Unborn only did decent numbers wise with $42,670,410, in comparison to its $16 million budget, it actually did pretty darned good and took the 66th spot.

And finally, capping things off at the lower end of success, the 67 and 69 (Dude!) spots were filled by fan favorites Drag Me to Hell with $42,100,625 against a $30 million budget and Orphan with $41,596,251. No budget available for Orphan either, but I cannot imagine it costing more than $30 million. Considering that Drag Me to Hell was out of theaters faster than you can say, "This isn't Spider Man" it actually did quite well. Imagine if it had just a few more weeks... Orphan, on the other hand, was near death its entire run, but had a bit of staying power with positive word of mouth and steady numbers, which were just enough to keep it afloat.

So, there you have it, the year in horror from a theatrical standpoint. By the numbers there are seven original films, three sequels, and only two remakes in this batch, so that shows some progress towards seeing some original genre releases in theaters. I personally saw six of these films and liked all six, so I am batting a 1000 in that department and that is a testament that all hope will never be lost, no matter how powerful the fad. Hopefully 2010 will bring even better horror films for us to go and spend way too much money on and right off the bat we are getting Case 39 on January 1st, followed by Daybreakers on the 8th and Legion on the 22nd (though I doubt that will go wide, unlike your mom). Not a bad way to start the New Year at all. Of course, I would love to hear your take on the 2009 year in horror and whether or not you were satisfied by what was to be seen in theaters. That is if you read this far - if you did, then thank you for being a freind!

Back in the Lab Again

Wow...does a week and a half feel like an eternity when it's spent away from the services provided by my computer - I am beginning to get my bearings back, but I certainly missed a lot of movie news, trailers, and crap like that while doing the whole moving thing. Moving also made it a little difficult to make it out to the movies to see The Final Destination, but hopefully I will get the chance to peep it before it takes off into the "wait two months for DVD" limbo. I have heard some positive reviews along with the nice job TFD has done in the box office, especially in comparison to H2, which went straight to the crapper after the numerous terrible reviews and the continued strong showing of Inglourious Basterds and District 9. And that's another one that I have yet to see (District 9 I mean), but hope to before it's too late. Doesn't make it any easier with Sorority Row just coming out and getting decent reviews along with the release of the post apocalyptic animation film 9, a movie that I have been dying to see. Then there's Whiteout, another film that I'm really looking forward to watching, even though reviews have been a little on the whack side.

Oh woe is me, complaining about the over saturation of genre films that I'm interested in playing in theaters...whaaah! I'm not really complaining, but sometimes if I don't see a movie when it comes out theatrically, I won't see it for a very long time - so I try to see what I can at the cinema as far as stuff that looks or promises to be good. In the end, I am happy to see such an abundance of films that are worthy of Baby Eating and the few that I have seen have been quite good and done well money wise (save for H2), so I hope the trend keeps up. Probably not though.

As I said, I missed out on a ton of shit, and I have been scoping out the webs to find the stuff that I would think is most excellent as far as news and/or trailers. First of all, I am very eager to hear more about any news concerning an 8 disc box set of Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy. Some of my all time favorite films are in that trilogy, and while I have some proper releases of these movies already, this promises to be the definitive set of the master filmmaker’s revenge trilogy - with what I can only imagine will be super killer extras. You can check here for some very minor details, but this is the best news that I have heard since my little hiatus for sure.

Apparently, Victor Salva is working on getting a third installment of Jeepers Creepers off the ground. If everything comes together as planned, the film would be subtitled Cathedral and set 23 years after the events in the first movie while also bringing back Gina Phillips character, Trisha with her teenage son Darry, named after her brother that was snatched up in the first movie. I am certainly interested in another sequel, I really liked the first Jeepers Creepers, but the sequel was a disaster of epic proportions, on top of being a major disappointment with what was a good idea premise wise. However, I have heard of massive on set issues with namely a good portion of the cast not showing up for work and things of that nature. Though that may have been a factor, it's still not really much of an excuse for how many holes the films plot had. Jeepers Creepers 2 did decently in theaters, not sure if it was good enough to garner a theatrical release for a third film, but if it did come to fruition, it would be nice to see it in theaters.

Along my journeys, I strolled upon this teaser trailer for one of many Glass Eye Pix films that look to be promising, the movie is called Bitter Feast and is about a Chef that takes revenge on a food critic that gave his grub a bad review. Sounds like a fun little idea if executed properly, I do find it funny that Uber Chef, Mario Batali will actually be playing a character in the film, and I dig this simple and very fun little teaser that they put together here, which isn't surprising since this is the same company behind Hypothermia which had a teaser that I was raving about a few weeks ago.



Maybe the biggest surprise for me is this trailer for Solomon Kane that just plain looks amazing. Based off the pulp writings of Robert E. Howard, who is better known for creating Conan "the freaking" Barbarian, Solomon Kane looks to be along the lines of something like Van Helsing (if it didn't eat ass) meets Brotherhood of the Wolf. In my opinion, that is a very good thing. Check out the trailer stat!


Alrighty, that is enough catching up for now - it is nice to be somewhat caught up with a good majority of what is going on movie wise. Even better is the fact that I can get back to posting here regularly again. I do have some interesting things to say about my new surroundings movie wise, as I live in a very different area from before a few weeks ago, but that will be something I save for another day. Until then, always remember to cook all babies thoroughly as we are not responsible for any food born illness that you may encounter.