A horror reboot with a small budget is enjoying a stellar run in cinemas (Picture: Lionsgate/John Armour)
A film slammed as ‘the most boring movie of the year’ by some fans – alongside a critical panning in reviews – is healthily on its way to becoming one of the most profitable of 2024.
Horror has always been a genre that can promise a box office bonanza, even more so when returning to a popular franchise.
And this is exactly what’s happened with The Strangers: Chapter 1.
Reactions to this horror flick, which is a reboot of the successful film series that started with 2008’s The Strangers, have not been warm – it’s only managed a measly 21% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, where it’s described as ‘a redundant exercise’, ‘generic’ and ‘more unpleasant and depressing than engagingly scary’.
However, it doesn’t appear to have dented its performance in cinemas worldwide since it was released on May 17.
Following a similar premise to the original film, which starred Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, The Strangers: Chapter 1 see a young couple forced to spend a night in a remote Airbnb when their car breaks down.
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The Strangers: Chapter 1 is the next film in the horror franchise that started in 2008 (Picture: Lionsgate/John Armour)
Panic then ensues as the duo (this time played by Riverdale’s Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez from Teen Wolf) are terrorised by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive.
The movie has already managed to rake in $37.5million at the global box office which, although it might not sound like huge business, is when it’s compared to its small budget of $8.5m.
Strangers: Chapter 1’s box office so far is already 4.5 times bigger than its production budget, after three and a half weeks on theatrical release.
To put that in perspective, it’s actually surpassed Dune: Part Two in terms of profitability in line with its budget as the Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet-starring flick has raked in $711m worldwide since its release in March – but on an estimated budget of $190m.
Therefore, the epic sci-fi sequel – which is the highest grossing film of the year so far – is yet to make four times its budget, which would be $760m.
It’s a similar story for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which is at number two and has made $567m on a budget of between $135m to $150m; the smaller budget estimate puts it at making just over four times its budget, but not to the same extent as Strangers: Chapter 1.
It’s made over four times its budget already, following in the success of its predecessors (Picture: Lionsgate/John Armour)
So there’s every chance that this horror sequel could replicate, or even surpass, the success of the original movie, which made an impressive $82.4m from a $9 budget.
In 2016 follow up The Strangers: Prey at Night also did well for itself, banking a smaller box office of $32.1m – but on a budget of almost half at $5m.
However, The Strangers: Chapter 1 has not been widely praised.
‘The Strangers: Chapter 1 is everything WRONG with the horror genre,’ pronounced Deadline in its review, while IndieWire noted: ‘When it comes to messing with genre classics, your answer to “Why remake a near-perfect film?” can’t be “It was here”.’
‘This was the most boring movie of the year,’ claimed @Fan_FlickOn on X, while @ZeroFromTheSpot complained, ‘Not scary at all,’ and @MollyVegas quipped of its box office success: ‘So the key is to make crappy low budget movies?!’
However, critics and fans have not been impressed by the movie (Picture: Lionsgate/John Armour)
‘It was the first movie I’ve ever considered walking out of,’ one viewer admitted on Reddit, adding: ‘The protagonists were the dumbest, most annoying characters I’ve ever seen in a movie.’
‘This entire movie feels like something [sic] told ChatGPT to write Dawson’s Creek meets The Strangers….’ joked @Capt_Clown77 on the forum, while @Octofingers seethed: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been legit mad at a movie like I am with this one. I cannot believe how dog s**t it was in every single aspect.’
‘I should have been paid to watch this. Terrible film,’ posted @nick_tha_professor.
As the title might suggest, The Strangers: Chapter 1 is actually the first part in a three-film refresh of the franchise.
The second two films have already been filmed, with the second expected to release later in 2024 and the third in 2025.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is in cinemas now.
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