Horror at the Box Office: Heart Eyes Debuts During Quiet Super Bowl Weekend
The Valentine’s Day slasher Heart Eyes finished second at the box office in its opening weekend, grossing an estimated 8.5 million dollars. Heart Eyes has received excellent reviews from critics, especially by the standards of a slasher film. Its debut was respectable and in line with expectations, but Screen Gems is no doubt hoping that the Heart Eyes box office gross will be bolstered by a strong performance during the upcoming Valentine’s Day weekend. It cost $18 million to produce.
Meanwhile, Companion suffered the fate of many horror films in its second weekend, falling a steep 68% to fifth place and an estimated $3.5 million, bringing its total close to $27 million. The film, which cost $10 million to produce, has received an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and audiences alike. But that didn’t stop it from a major decline. Historically, horror movies have often fizzled quickly after their opening weekends, before later making a comeback on video (and now streaming).
Competition from Heart Eyes probably ate into its ticket sales. Still, Companion looks like a strong candidate for awards season. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if it joined the short list of horror movies to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.
Heart Eyes and Companion were the only horror movies to finish in the top ten this weekend. Both are likely on their way to making solid profits, but neither will be a major box office smash.
As for the other genre films in theaters, there were three that cracked the top twenty. Neon’s Presence finished 17th with about $305K and a relatively paltry $6.6 million total. 18th place went to the Robert Eggers hit Nosferatu, which added another $275K to its impressive gross, putting it near the $100 million mark. Finally, the disappointing flop Wolfman finished in 18th place with $260k for a total of about $20.5 million.
As usual, it was a quiet weekend overall at the box office during Super Bowl weekend. Studios are obviously hoping for higher grosses next weekend.
Credit to Box Office Mojo for the figures.
