Horror At The Box Office: Sinners Rolls On, Cornfield Clowns Around
In its fourth weekend, the breakthrough smash hit Sinners continued to show incredible endurance, grossing $21 million, a drop of just 36%. The vampire western finished second at the box office behind Thunderbolts.
Sinners has finished in the top two for four consecutive weeks, a mind boggling feat for a horror film. It has now grossed nearly $215 million domestically, defying critics who predicted that its enormous budget would ruin its chances of making a profit.
It hasn’t done as well internationally, but its worldwide gross has now climbed to $283 million. It wouldn’t be a shock for Sinners to finish in the $400 million range.
Sinners was joined in the top five by Clown in a Cornfield, which opened with approximately $3.7 million. That sounds low, right? Did it flop? Nope. Not even close. Clown in a Cornfield cost less than $1 million to make. It’s only hitting theaters for a one month limited release.
After that it will premiere on Shudder, where it’s likely be a major draw. Although the grosses are obviously tiny compared to Sinners, this opening weekend represents a triumph for a movie expected to do more business streaming than in theaters.
There are two book sequels. My guess is this performance is enough to get Clown in a Cornfield 2 made into a movie, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes direct to streaming or only has a brief theatrical run. This is a property that could easily be developed into a long series of low budget films.
Until Dawn grossed an estimated $2 million, earning it an eighth place finish as the third (and last) horror movie to make the top ten this week. It’s earned a decent $18 million domestically on a budget of $15 million.
Looking Ahead
Final Destination Bloodlines releases next Friday. It will be fascinating to see if this franchise still has the box office power it enjoyed back in the 2000s. If so, this could be the week that Sinners gets supplanted as the top horror movie.
Warner Bros has been on a hell of a run recently. First Minecraft blows up, then Sinners knocks it off the top spot. Final Destination Bloodlines could continue a remarkable run for the venerable studio.
