Blumhouse’s Insidious: The Red Door delivered the second best North American opening weekend of the 13-year horror franchise on an estimated $32.7m number one debut via Sony Pictures, toppling Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny in its second session.
Earning $15.2m on Friday, $10.1m on Saturday and a projected $7.3m on Sunday from 3,188 sites, the new arrival from Screen Gems, Stage 6 Films and Blumhouse, which reportedly cost $16m and earned $64m globally this week, exceeded expectations to beat the unadjusted $40.3m debut of Insidious: Chapter 2 in September 2013.
Fired up by a lively marketing campaign which included pop-ups like a red door in Hollywood which passers-by were invited to try out, the film also scored the biggest opening weekend for a PG-13 horror film in the last two years since Paramount’s A Quiet Place: Part II on $160.2m in May 2021.
The C+ Cinemascore rating will not bother Sony executives too much as they now have their eyes on holding well and building on word of mouth. It will be a challenge to come close to Chapter 2‘s $83.6m, which would make it the champion of the series in a summer when several horror releases are waiting in the wings.
Michel Hazanavicius’ comedy horror Final Cut opens on July 14, Terrifier lands on July 19, and Sundance hit Talk To Me arrives on July 28.
The Red Door certainly stands a good chance of passing the $52.2m and $54m final grosses of 2015’s Insidious: Chapter 3 and 2010’s Insidious, with the $67.7m set by 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key also within its sights.
Patrick Wilson makes his feature debut on the final saga of the Lambert family and the supernatural realm known as The Further Door and returns to the cast alongside Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, and Andrew Astor.
Box office observers will be encouraged heading into a key period in the summer season with Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One opening on July 12, followed by Warner Bros/Mattel’s Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer due to arrive on July 21.
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny fell 56% in its second weekend on $26.5m to cross $100m and reach $121.2m and end the weekend just shy of $250m worldwide.
Meanwhile there was another success in the form of Sound Of Freedom from Angel Studios, which reportedly cost around $14.5m to make and debuted in third place on an impressive $18.2m over the Friday-Sunday period in 2,852 sites via Angel Studios. The It was a popular choice among cinema-goers, scoring A+ on Cinemascore to make it one of the highest-rated releases in recent months.
Lionsgate’s R-rated female-led comedy
Joy Ride opened in sixth place on a disappointing $5.9m in 2,820, below the pre-weekend estimates that had put the SXSW selection in the $7m-9m range. Studio brass will be looking to word of mouth to build out in the weeks to come.Disney/Pixar’s
Elemental ranked fourth in its fourth weekend, holding well on a 21% drop to add $9.6m from 3,440 as it too crossed the $100m mark to settle on $109.2m. The Columbia 30 An $8m weekend propelled the cumulative tally to $357.65m, ahead of Guardians
on $357.58m. Ranking 11th in its fourth weekend, Focus Features’ AsteroidCity from Wes Anderson added $2.2m for a $24m running total.“The essential element is for a movie to feel fresh”: Likely Story producer Anthony Bregman on how to achieve indie success
