Horror at the Box Office: ‘Primate’ Climbs High, ‘Housemaid’ Continues to Roll
There was lots of monkey business (or, more accurately, chimp business) at the box office this weekend. Primate, which is about a killer chimpanzee who goes on a bloody rampage, scored a solid estimated $11.3 million domestic debut, finishing in second place in its opening weekend.
The $21 million budgeted picture is off to a nice start. Reviews have been decent, so it may have some staying power, but the upcoming competition (more on that later) could make a long theatrical run difficult.
Apparently filmgoers were ready for another killer primate movie, even though it’s been less than a year since The Monkey came out. Granted, there are plenty of differences between the two premises, but I imagine the Primate producers were still worried about comparisons.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Sweeney/Amanda Seyfried thriller The Housemaid continues to excel. It earned another estimated $11.2 million in its fourth weekend, finishing in third place. That’s a drop of only around 25% from week 3.
The leggy thriller has now earned $94 million domestically and $142 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. Lionsgate has to be thrilled. The Housemaid has become the year’s first big surprise hit. Not surprisingly, a sequel is already in development.
I expect we’ll see more thrillers of this type going forward. They were popular in the early ’90s and are now seeing a major resurgence.
Up Next
This coming Friday marks the debut of two of my most anticipated horror movies of the year. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Night Patrol both premiere. January is getting crowded with horror competition!
I’m interested to see who will prevail at the box office next weekend, and especially how The Bone Temple‘s performance will compare to 28 Years Later (2025).
Credit to Box Office Mojo for the figures cited.
