André Øvredal’s (The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) new horror movie Passenger opened in theaters over the long Memorial Day Weekend, facing stiff competition in the form of Curry Barker’s Obsession. While Barker’s word-of-mouth hit was in its second weekend, it still managed to become the #1 horror movie over the long 3-day weekend.
In fact, Obsession made more in its second weekend than it did in its debut weekend!
Obsession found itself in the #2 position on the U.S. box office charts this past weekend, while Passenger came in at #6 with an opening haul of $8.7 million in the traditional weekend frame. When you add in Memorial Day Monday, Passenger debuted with $10.5 million.
Worldwide, Paramount’s Passenger has hitchhiked its way to $15.3 million thus far.
It’s not doing Passenger any favors that it’s been sandwiched in between box office sensation Obsession and likely sensation Backrooms, and it also doesn’t help matters that Øvredal’s latest is currently “rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes with a 45% score. Most horror fans seem to agree that it’s just too generic for its own good, especially at a time when young filmmakers are raising the bar so high with films like Obsession. Curry Barker’s film essentially drove a nail into the coffin of Passenger‘s opening weekend before it ever had a chance to hit the road.
The reported production budget for Passenger was $15 million, so it seems unlikely that it’ll be ending its box office run with a profit. With Obsession and Backrooms competing for box office dollars this coming weekend, we expect Passenger will face a steep second week decline.
In Passenger, “A few weeks into their van life adventure, a young couple witnesses a horrific accident that leaves the driver dead. Soon they’re being pursued by a demonic presence who’s impossible to outrun and follows them wherever they go.” Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life), Lou Llobell (“Foundation”), and Melissa Leo (The Fighter) star.
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “André Øvredal trades the claustrophobic chills of a small town morgue for the open road in his latest haunted house horror feature, Passenger. Despite the filmmaker’s considerable talents and a novel concept for a nomadic style haunting, though, Øvredal’s latest winds up falling asleep at the wheel.”
“Passenger doesn’t really offer much in the way of a journey or a destination,” Meagan’s 2.5 skull review continues. “Its setup is novel, but the lack of depth prevents this handsomely made haunted house road tale from ever becoming truly interesting, let alone scary.”
