Yikes! Things have been scary at the box office for horror films in October. Last week saw the disappointingly weak opening of Guillermo del Toro’s CRIMSON PEAK ($13 million) and it didn’t get any better for this past weekend’s new fright flicks: Vin Diesel’s THE LAST WITCH HUNTER was DOA with only $10 million, while PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION was a veritable phantom with a dismal $8 million. (CRIMSON PEAK dropped 57% as well.) The only good news for the genre is the moderate success of GOOSEBUMPS, but that film is naturally skewing more toward families than serious horror fans.
So what went wrong here? In the case of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, it’s quite feasible the public is just over this franchise. Add to that, reviews were poor and Paramount only released the film in 1,656 theaters, a move that ties into the studio’s plan to unveil the film on VOD in a few weeks. But the writing’s already on the wall: No one wants to see the activity, not anymore. I’m sure we can expect a reboot in a couple years.
LAST WITCH HUNTER is even more interesting. Vin Diesel is considered an A-list star at the moment, but that’s by virtue of the success of the FAST AND FURIOUS movies. Does anyone want to see him playing a watered-down Highlander fighting off CG witches? Evidently not. The marketing for the film highlighted humans squaring off against dodgy computer-generated monsters, which it’s increasingly clear audiences do not give a shit about. (See: SEVENTH SON, I, FRANKENSTEIN, etc.) LAST WITCH HUNTER just looked silly, not scary, and it’s questionable whether or not it would have made money during any season.
Horror isn’t dead in October, though. Look at least year, when ANNABELLE and OUIJA opened to $37 million and $19 million, respectively. Not great movies, obviously, but it proves that the right hook can still lure in those coveted teenagers during our favorite month. Next year brings us A MONSTER CALLS, UNDERWORLD 5 and OUIJA 2. Excited?