How ‘Terrifier 2’, an obscure budget horror film, became this year’s most unlikely box office success

Have you heard of the film that is so disturbingly stomach-wrenching, so frighteningly gruesome that it is said to cause some viewers to vomit, pass out and even have to be carried out of theaters?

That very question (the movie is called Terrifier 2, by the way) inspires horror fans and skeptics to flock to local theaters to gauge the hype for themselves. The ultra-gory, micro-budget slasher film has conquered relative obscurity to defy the odds and emerge as one of the season’s most unlikely box office hits. “Terrifier 2” – and no, you don’t to need to see the original film first — has charted in the top 10 in recent weeks on its way to generating a staggering $7.73 million in domestic ticket sales. And it’s achieved those returns without a big movie star on the marquee and hardly any publicity.

“This is where word of mouth becomes more important than any paid advertising,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “When the target audience hears ‘Vomit-o-rama,’ it’s worth the price of admission.”

Its breakout success is perhaps most shocking to its backers, Bloody Disgusting and Cinedigm, as well as Iconic Releasing, which distributes the film. Since “Terrifier 2” was not rated by the Motion Picture Association, sales executives had a hard time convincing theater operators to release auditoriums at all. In view of this challenge, the film was originally intended to be shown for only three nights.

“This surprised us all,” says Devon Canfield, VP of Sales and Distribution at Iconic Releasing.

In its opening weekend, Terrifier 2 grossed $825,000 in 886 theaters. From then on something unusual happened. For virtually every film ever released in theaters, ticket sales generally decline in the weeks that follow. Even mainstays like “Avatar” and “Top Gun: Maverick” took a dip after their debut on the big screen. But so far, Terrifier 2, which follows a terrifying killer known as Art the Clown, has done the opposite, beating out big studio horror movies like Halloween Ends, Smile, and Barbarian in the process.

“He caught fire in a way that you don’t see in a film that doesn’t come out of a big studio,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst.

Although the number of theaters was reduced to 700 for its second showing, the film earned even more than the previous weekend, grossing $850,000 between Friday and Sunday. At this point, “Terrifier 2” had grossed $2.29 million.

“We’ve dropped to 700 screens [our second weekend], and we continued to grow our gross,” says Canfield. “That doesn’t happen when you lose locations.”

That’s when the buzz started to build, and “Terrifier 2” generated $1.9 million in its third frame while expanding to 755 locations. And now in its fourth weekend on the big screen, ticket sales have continued to climb (up 4%) as the film has amassed $1.8 million from 1,550 screens, marking its widest showing to date. With nearly $8 million in the bank, box office watchers are predicting $10 million in ticket sales is within reach.

“The increase from week to week is extraordinarily rare,” says Dergarabedian. “It’s like a Sasquatch finding.”

It doesn’t bring the same numbers as more well-known horror stories like Halloween Ends ($60 million), Smile ($92 million), or Barbarian ($40 million), but it doesn’t have to; Terrifier 2 was crowdfunded and produced for $250,000.

What’s even more remarkable is that “Terrifier 2” landed at number 8 over the weekend: it only runs once or twice a day in most theaters. For comparison, “Tár,” another long film running at almost two hours and 30 minutes, runs at least four times a day. A likely contender for awards season, this film finished 11th when it opened in 1,087 theaters over the weekend.

“Almost every showtime is almost full,” Canfield said. “Theaters have had to move it to bigger houses.”

Box office watchers point out that there are as many factors against Terrifier 2 (it’s over two hours long and there are plenty of other horror movies in theaters right now) as there are for it (scary movies rarely miss the box office). office, and the market is emptier with 45.5% fewer releases this fall compared to the same period in 2019, according to Comscore).

But the triumphant ticket sales point to a truth: “The horror crowd is out there more than ever,” says Bock. “It’s hot like Hades.”

The sequel’s box office success is also impressive because the original “Terrifier” didn’t originally have a theatrical release when it came out in 2016, although it was briefly played in a limited edition in 2018. It was only shown in 5 theaters and grossed around $2,500.

“With this one, we knew there was a huge following online and we wanted to give it as much opportunity as possible to make a splash and reward fans,” says Canfield.

Written and directed by Damien Leone, “Terrifier 2” follows a demonic clown killer who brutalizes the citizens of a small town around Halloween. Critics were kinder to the sequel, saying it improved on Art the Clown’s original story. diversity is Owen Gleiberman praised its “grindhouse-style gore” and described the film as a “slasher dreamscape.”

“Set primarily on Halloween night, ‘Terrifier 2’ is a pompous holiday horror film that runs 2 hours and 18 minutes,” he wrote. “But that’s more or less in line with Art the Clown’s philosophy of chaos: more is more.”

Although the film will be available digitally by October 31, Terrifier 2 is expected to impress at the box office in the coming weeks. For one, it will stream exclusively on Screambox, a smaller genre-centric platform run by Bloody Disgusting, so that factor is unlikely to impact ticket sales. At a time when superheroes and big-budget sequels reign supreme, Canfield believes the unexpected box-office success of Terrifier 2 is a lesson.

“I would say to cinemas, embrace alternative content and don’t be afraid to take risks,” says Canfield.