Halloween can take full advantage of the clear hunger for scares that led to movies like Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Chris Landon’s Happy Death Day, John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place, and Ari Aster’s Hereditary raking in huge bucks, but it has the chance to do even better thanks to brand recognition, and a spectacularly-handled ramp up to release that has been executed by Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions.
As you may have guessed, much of this confidence stems from the very real horror boom that pop culture is currently experiencing, and it’s very much a situation where a high tide lifts all boats.
I’ve already mentioned Andres Muschietti’s IT — which was also underestimated because of its R-rating and fall release, but still managed to make $123.4 million in one record-shattering weekend — but it’s part of a much larger pattern of major successes.