It has been a grim year for cinema. From big-budget films like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga to star-studded spectacles like The Fall Guy , audiences haven’t been showing up in the numbers Hollywood had hoped. In fact, this year marked the worst start to the industry’s all-important summer season in three decades, putting into question the long-term strength of the box office.
One genre, however, seems to be staying afloat. Independent horror movies have been quietly attracting decent audiences since the beginning of the year, suggesting you don’t need bloated budgets or big-name distributors to turn a profit. Indie horrors like Immaculate and Late Night With The Devil have held their own while other large-scale films have struggled.
Credit: Compiled by Bethany Rae In March, the nun-centered horror starring Sydney Sweeney, Immaculate, enjoyed the strongest opening day of any movie distributed by indie studio Neon, outpacing other major hits like Oscar-winners Parasite and Anatomy of a Fall . It raked in over $8 million over its opening weekend in the US, and has since grossed over $34 million worldwide . This means it more than doubled its production budget, which was around $13 million.
Immaculate played on 197 screens in Australia, yet still grossed over $1.1 million. Considering The First Omen , a 20th Century Studios production which reportedly cost $30 million to make, grossed under a million across 226 screens , this was quite a success for the independent film.
Austral.
