Hollywood is a business of trends. The 90s was serial killers and the 2000s had J-Horror remakes. Greenlights are made on what the studios think will sell. They're decisions are based on what sold before.
The following 10 films are what sold in 2011.
Movies will be made based on the numbers of this list. It will affect the future of Hollywood horror. In the best case scenario a film can take three years to gestate from pitch to picturehouse. 2012 is in the can and 2013 is in production. It means 2014 will be the casualty of 2011.
This years has seen a tent pole sequel, reboot and remake flop. The word ‘casualty’ is sarcasm.
1 Paranormal Activity 3 $103.8million1 Paramount
2 Insidious $54m FilmDistrict
5 The Roommate $37.3m Screen Gems (Sony/Colombia)
6 The Rite $33m Warner Bros
7 Priest $29m Screen Gems (Sony/Colombia)
8 Don’t be Afraid of the Dark $24m FilmDistrict
9 Dream House $21.3m Universal
10 Shark Night 3D $18.8m Relativity Media
It was a good year for the independents but Relativity’s Shark Night 3D has no business doing business. Despite the addition of Priest the 3D gimmick is well and truly dead in horror. Only the studios can afford it and they will now abort it. Good riddance.
The only remake on the list is Don’t be Afraid of the Dark. That star vehicle didn’t even earn its production budget of $25m back. The notable remake absentee is the banner genre film of the year: The Thing. Why? It made $16.9m (it cost $38m). Remakes will always be a possibility but after this year less of a probability.
What should have been box office bonanza turned into box office humiliation. Where the Final Destination franchise may have no shame Scream should. The expected take of a sequel is 75% of its predecessor. The Final Destination 2009 earned $66.4m domestic. Anything less than $50m would have be a disappointment for Final Destination 5.
Scream 4 fared worse. Wes Craven is revered as an auteur and horrormeister. As Scream 3 2000 scored $89.1m in North America the target for the reboot was $87m (factoring inflation). Scream 4 earned less than half that. There won’t be a Scream 5.
The Paranormal Activity series has run its narrative course but it was a good year for creator Oren Peli. Insidious was made for $1.5m making it the most profitable movie of the year2. Its worldwide take is a current $97m. It is more profitable than the top grossing Harry Potter and whatever subtitle was attached to it.
Horror saves Hollywood again. The bad news is the low budget demonic-possesion subgenre has at least another three years.
All things should be taken into consideration. The US box office was down 5% this year. Ticket sales were down by 6%. That was bound to affect the genre dollar but the biggest factor is the quality of the films. Three of the top 10 grossing horror films of 2011 made it onto this site’s 10 Worst Horror Films of the Year.
Only one of them will make the Top 10.
Thrill Fiction looks forward to the New Year and new horrors. I will publish A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Return in 2012. Not only is it worth the wait it’s worth the read. It’s a better script than any of the tosh on this list.
I’d like to thank all visitors to this site for your support. I’d especially like to thank all who leave comments for their time and insight. That means you Filip. You’re in this as well Nisar. To Dr Blood and Lee Hougly I am always honoured. Shout out to the Girl from the Ghetto – you are queen of blogs. Wharrup Steupz? John Cozzoli is a genius. Ricky Sprague is a super genius. He published his second novel Whimsical Doctor Shoe this year.If I didn't mention you by name - there's always next year.
Happy New Year.
Faith in fiction.
Faith in fiction.
Read more Thrill Fiction: John Carpenter’s The Ward
1 All numbers from Box Office Mojo
2 Insidious most profitable movie of the year Hollywood Reporter
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
