As the COVID pandemic continued in 2021, there were questions if movies theaters were going to recover the way they needed to. For most of 2020, the box office was non-existent because of large scale shutdowns, and even when theaters began to slowly open back up in the fall, they saw more failures than successes. The box office really didn’t start to show signs of life again until an unexpected genre stepped up and saved the movies.
No, it wasn’t superhero movies, which often got labeled as “successful disappointments.” Black Widow bringing the MCU back to the big screen gave the box office a more prominent pulse, but its split release between theaters and Disney+ kept it from really saving the day. Even with excellent reception heading into its release, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad sadly disappointed at the box office. Shang-Chi was the only real box-office breakout before Venom: Let There Be Carnage instilled real confidence in the box-office. However, even though Shang-Chi currently holds the 2021 domestic gross record at $221 million, it still ranks towards the bottom compared to other MCU films (19th of 25 according to Box Office Mojo), so it still wasn’t a real return to form. Even a lot of the big blockbusters like F9 and Jungle Cruise got a passable “they did fine for the pandemic” that didn’t offer the resounding confidence many were looking for.
Oddly enough, audiences weren’t interested in big blockbusters or hopeful heroic adventures and instead wanted something a little scarier. Who could’ve guessed that audiences would gravitate more towards horror movies coming out of a devastating pandemic? Perhaps it’s because horror films are a definitive theater experience because you can’t pause it or leave and come back later like at home and horror fans were eager for a more immersive and atmospheric viewing experience. Regardless, the horror genre was really the one out there saving the day, with its fans consistently coming to the theaters week after week and it all started with the release of a long-awaited sequel.
Originally meant to come out at the end of March 2020, the exact month when things suddenly shut down, the sequel to the 2018 breakout hit A Quiet Place was left in limbo until it finally released on May 28, 2021 to jumpstart the box-office. With a budget ranging from $55-$61 million, A Quiet Place: Part II nearly made its money back on its opening weekend, grossing (domestically) around $47 million and went on to earn nearly $300 million worldwide in its total run. A Quiet Place: Part II definitely benefited from great reviews and its sound-based horrors made it a true theater experience, but it also signified something more. Since A Quiet Place: Part II was so close to releasing when the pandemic initially hit, its eventual release felt like things were getting back on track and its notable success in getting people back started an unprecedented wave of horror.
Although A Quiet Place: Part II will likely be solely recognized for starting the success of horror in 2021, there’s another movie that also kicked off this narrative. The latest film in the Conjuring Universe, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, ended up beating the odds stacked against it. Despite being R-rated, simultaneously debuting on HBO Max the same day it hit theaters, and numerous predictions stating it would fall behind A Quiet Place: Part II in its opening weekend, the third Conjuring movie ended up doing better than expected, grossing a little over $24 million against a $39 million budget in its opening weekend.
The Conjuring Universe has been in a bit of decline as it’s spun different spin-offs, but a return to the mainline “Conjuring” name really brought fans back and gave them a loving send-off for Ed and Lorraine—if this is their last supernatural endeavor, that is. More importantly, The Devil Made Me Do It pushed the Conjuring Universe past a major financial milestone, as its box-office take officially pushed the franchise past $2 billion. This achievement makes it the second highest-grossing horror franchise ever, only behind Godzilla.
The clear consistency and commitment horror fans were giving to their beloved genre in theaters definitely didn’t go unnoticed and the success of A Quiet Place: Part II and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It kicked off a one-of-a-kind summer where movie theaters became an absolute horror haven. Out of the ten weeks between July and August, six of them had one new horror movie debut in theaters. And while a lot of returning franchises didn’t make the same impact as their predecessors, they helped create a consistent financial narrative that made horror stand out against struggling summer blockbusters.
The Purge franchise returned once again to its favorite Fourth of July weekend slot to deliver its final, but probably not final, entry with The Forever Purge. The darkest chapter in the franchise not only grossed a solid $77 million worldwide but played a big part in a major achievement for Universal. Although it placed third in its opening weekend by grossing $12.5 million (which isn’t too shabby considering its $18 million budget) The Forever Purge ending up only being behind fellow Universal films F9 and Boss Baby: Family Business meant that Universal held the top three spots in the box-office. This was the first time it happened since 2005 and it wouldn’t have been possible without The Forever Purge.
A few weeks later, Sony joined the mix with Escape Room: Tournament of Champions and although it wasn’t a box-office banger like the 2019 original, it still got a solid take. Tournament of Champions raked in over $50 million worldwide and fared well against the more family-friendly Space Jam: A New Legacy. Sony’s Screen Gems also delivered another horror sequel in the form of Don’t Breathe 2. While the sequel was rightfully maligned for turning the horrifying antagonist of the amazing 2016 original into someone unnecessarily sympathetic, Don’t Breathe 2 actually saw a similar success to Tournament of Champions. Both films had a $15 million budget made back with a roughly $50 million worldwide take and kept them far from being bombs.
There were also two originals that made their marks in David Bruckner’s The Night House and M. Night Shyamalan’s Old. While it’s no surprise that an indie arthouse flick like The Night House had the lowest gross of the group, only taking in $15 million worldwide, it’s worth mentioning here simply because it’s so damn good. Horror fans should be blessed that The Night House provided an excellent lead performance from Rebecca Hall as well as haunting atmospheric scares and it’s the perfect high-brow Halloween entertainment. Old was quite the opposite, as it proved that Shyamalan is still a name big enough to get butts in seats. Not only was Old such a success that its $16.5 million opening beat out big-name franchise films like Space Jam: A New Legacy in its second week and G.I. Joe’s Snake Eyes in its debut, but it nearly nabbed a $100 million gross worldwide. That’s pretty huge for an original horror movie. If you haven’t seen Old yet, I can’t recommended it enough. It’s personally one of Shyamalan’s bests and is the definitive and deservedly breakout horror film of the summer.
Universal also closed out the horror haven of summer with Nia DaCosta’s reboot/sequel to Candyman—which put the franchise atop the box office for the first time ever. Initially expected to gross around $15 million in its opening weekend, Candyman blew past expectations to gross around $22 million in its first week and eventually grossed $77 million worldwide. Not only did it give Universal another profitable summer horror flick and give the Candyman name new meaning in 2021, but DaCosta actually became the first black female director to have her movie debut atop the box office. Candyman ended a strong summer for the horror genre on a high note at theaters, but the genre was also making some major waves on Netflix.
While a slew of horror movies delivered positive outcomes for movie theaters, Netflix’s big summer event, an adaptation of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series, absolutely took the world by storm. The Fear Street trilogy was undoubtedly Netflix’s biggest “planned” event to date, as viewers tuned in for three straight weeks to see the time-spanning witch’s story of Shadyside unfold. The trilogy excellently evoked the snark and angst of ’90s horror, the fun campy nature of ’70s/’80s slashers, and even offered up some Pilgrim-based horrors of the 1600s all in one film series. Well-received by critics and viewers alike, Fear Street became the viewing event of the summer—more than most big blockbusters debuting in theaters. There’s even the possibility for more, hopefully focusing on some of the creatively designed slashers we didn’t see, and the Fear Street trilogy provided an event like no other for horror fans at home.
The has also kept on giving throughout the fall. Unlike a lot of the summer horror flicks mentioned before, James Wan’s return to the horror genre, Malignant, wasn’t a profitable hit, as it only grossed around $33 million worldwide against a $40 million budget. It’s a shame because it has all the makings of becoming a modern cult classic. Wan’s take on Giallo horror creates wildly unpredictable body horror story and an insanely satisfying third act that needs to be seen to be believed. The Halloween franchise also made a recent return with the middle entry in Blumhouse and Universal’s modern Halloween trilogy, Halloween Kills. It initially got off on a great foot with an opening domestic debut just under $50 million, but has dropped off quite a bit since. However, it’s slowly crawling its way to the $100 million worldwide milestone and even for the mixed reception between critics and fans, if anyone’s got the legs and power to get there, it’s Michael Myers.
Halloween wasn’t the only classic horror franchise to return this fall, as two other iconic slashers returned on smaller screens. Prolific Child’s Play creator Don Mancini has brought the franchise back with a Chucky series on Syfy that sees legendary characters and killers make their return. For anyone who saw the 2019 Child’s Play reboot and really wanted classic Chucky back, this series is a perfect reunion. Amazon also brought back I Know What You Did Last Summer to deliver a modern take on the original novel by Lois Duncan and with it being only halfway through its season currently, there are plenty of secrets left to be revealed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-XIRcjf3l4&t=2s
Now, you couldn’t possibly have a year of horror dominance without something from a modern master of the genre like Mike Flanagan, as his new series Midnight Mass became an instant hit. I’m starting to think that anything Flanagan touches turns to gold for horror fans since the supernatural and religious haunts the series offers continue to make him Netflix’s ace in the hole. Just like with his two Haunting shows, Flanagan absolutely rocked Netflix audiences to their core and gave the platform another hit that’s easily among the best TV series of the year.
Even horror-adjacent content had did well in theaters and at home. As mentioned before, Venom: Let There Be Carnage absolutely resurrected the box-office, with a $90 million domestic opening that actually out-grossed the original. The sequel that saw Venom face off against his gruesome and sadistic symbiote rival Carnage might not end up hitting the same final financial marks as the original, but it more importantly gave hope that the box office could be in a better place and that wider audiences are ready to join horror fans back in the theaters.
No one benefitted more from the horror love, though, than Netflix’s Squid Game, the breakout media star of the year. The South Korean series by Hwang Dong-hyuk featuring deadly games of survival and biting social commentary fitting for horror audiences has officially become Netflix’s most viewed series of all-time and a pop culture phenomenon. It’s an excellent thematic companion to Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite and those game sequences are some of the most gripping and terrifying moments in TV history. Squid Game absolutely stole 2021 and gave the rising South Korean film presence the attention it deserves.
So, now that we’ve talked about just about everything horror has done in 2021, what does it all mean? Well, simply that the horror genre saved 2021 thanks to the consistent support of its fans. The major accomplishments that horror films and TV series achieved added some much-needed positivity to the world and best of all, the genre is far from stopping. Just on the horizon is Scott Cooper’s long awaited indie horror flick Antlers and Edgar Wright’s foray back into the genre with Last Night in Soho. The Resident Evil series is also making a return with Johannes Robert’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and Guillermo del Toro’s new film Nightmare Alley is sure to be pleasing for all horror fans. All in all, 2021 continues to be a great time to be a horror fan and the genre was the unsung hero we didn’t know we needed but are thankful to have had.
