2023 has been a nightmare-inducing year for the horror genre in the best way possible. Despite their relatively minimal budgets, this year’s slate of terrifying films have largely put up excellent performances at the box office. Unfortunately, there can only be one true king of sleepless nights. At the time, the title belongs to Insidious: The Red Door.
Insidious: The Red Door has grossed north of $182 million to become the highest-grossing horror film of the year so far. The film beat M3GAN which grossed $181 million during its run to achieve this feat. Scream VI which grossed $169 million during its own run is in third place.
Insidious: The Red Door, released on July 7, is the fifth installment in the Insidious franchise and the last entry for some time. At least, that was what the producer Jason Blum revealed last month.
In a year when many big-budget movies have flopped, horror films have surprisingly held the fort and proven to be big box office draws.
Insidious’ performance is commendable as well. The film was released smack in the middle of two of the biggest films this year, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Also, the film had very poor critical reviews, including a 39% Rotten Tomatoes rating. But then, critical reviews aren’t exactly the determining factor for box office success so there is that to consider.
Given its debut gross of $31 million, which was enough to knock Indy off the top of the box office, maybe our surprise is misplaced. But then, we didn’t see the film competing beyond that weekend given the release of Mission Impossible 7 the following week and the Barbenheimer craze in the week after that.
Even if the critics disagree, the fact that it managed to do these numbers despite all of these obstacles is a testament to its quality.
However, there are still a few big horror titles on the way and they could very well threaten The Red Door’s crown. The first of these, titled The Nun II, will debut in cinemas on September 8 followed by Saw X a few weeks later, on September 29.
The final big horror release this year is Exorcist: Believer which will arrive on October 13. With these films on the way, The Red Door has a big fight on its hands if it is to retain its title by the end of the year.
By the way, an Insidious spinoff titled Threads is currently in development. The film will star Kumal Nanjiani and Mandy Moore with Jeremy Slater, of Moon Knight fame, at the helm.
