CBS Films finally made a good movie and it bombs. Go figure. Hell Fest, the Gregory Plotkin-directed slasher, bombed at the box office during its opening weekend earning an abysmal estimated $5M domestically. For a film pegged as the beginning of a new franchise, I think it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing a sequel anytime soon. If anything, the film’s success will be solely based on international numbers, if there are any. With a $5.5M reported budget, it’s at least looking to break even through it’s run, which should land somewhere between $12-15M. This opening was so weak that it couldn’t even beat The Nun in its fourth weekend.
Speaking of The Nun, New Line Cinema’s latest The Conjuring spinoff just topped $300M worldwide, while the Eli Roth-directed The House With a Clock In Its Walls is sitting at $44.7M domestic and only $53M worldwide. On a $42 reported budget, things aren’t looking so hot for this Jack Black-starrer children’s comedy. Lastly, The Predator is dying a quick death, dropping another 60% to a $3.7M weekend and $105M worldwide total. The budget is a reported massive $88M and looking at major losses.
This is all a little shocking considering how hot horror has been as of late. Is this fall too cluttered? It’s possible. Venom is poised to come in and take a huge chunk out of the box office next weekend, and then Goosebumps 2 and Halloween are waiting in the wings. With all three set to open huge, the earlier aforementioned films are about to get ravaged here in the States.
