Insidious: The Red Door Continues Recent Trend Of Horror Movies Slaying At The Box Office

"Insidious: The Red Door" is conjuring up quite the scare at the box office.

Audiences have proven time and time again that they're ready to show up for well-marketed horror movies, with "Insidious: The Red Door" continuing this trend. Helmed by Patrick Wilson in his directorial debut, "The Red Door" is set to rake in a whopping $31M at the box office this weekend, per Deadline. An exceptional debut for the fifth film in the franchise, "The Red Door" is on track to dethrone "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" from the top spot at the box office. Indy's fifth outing will rake in north of $25M during its sophomore weekend.

"The Red Door" is just the latest horror film to dominate at the box office. 2023 hasn't been the kindest to hopeful juggernauts like "The Flash" and "Dial of Destiny," but it's been a pleasant year for horror. Universal Pictures kicked off the year with "M3GAN," a sci-fi viral sensation that grossed over $180M worldwide. Paramount Pictures then took on the baton, raking in a franchise-best of $168M worldwide for "Scream VI." Even the eternally confused Warner Bros. managed to bring home nearly $150M worldwide with "Evil Dead Rise."

"Insidious: The Red Door," one of the few horror films to open this summer, is already eyeing a $100M worldwide run. Produced on a budget of $16M, the highest ever for the franchise, "The Red Door" is likely on track to become profitable as early this week. For Sony Pictures, this is another win at the box office. They continue to make waves with the animated juggernaut "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," which recently crossed $350M domestically.

With such a stellar debut in a crowded summer, could "The Red Door" become the highest-grossing film in the "Insidious" franchise?

"Insidious: The Red Door" has the second-highest opening for a film in the franchise ("Insidious: Chapter 2" opened to $40M in 2013). While its opening is strong, it shouldn't be surprising if the film stumbles next week. The "Insidious" franchise has never been adored by critics — only the first "Insidious" is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — but "Red Door" is not a highlight for the series. Looper critic Audrey Fox was mixed on the latest "Insidious" outing, praising the film for its mature themes, but finding issues with its lack of thrills. "It may not be the spookiest or most gruesome film in the series — aside from a few great jump-scare moments scattered throughout — but it is perhaps the one with the most coherent narrative voice," wrote Fox in a 6/10 review.

That may seem positive but consider the film's CinemaScore rating of C+ — an all-time low for the franchise. While horror films are critic-proof, they're not audience-proof. Word of mouth is less than positive, meaning "The Red Door" might just be an opening weekend play. "I'm so disappointed because I really really wanted to like it. I was so pumped for this movie but it fell completely flat," wrote Reddit user u/Rachkstarrr in a r/Movies thread discussing the film. If fans are disappointed in "The Red Door," it's possible that casual viewers will steer clear of the latest "Insidious" adventure.

The film faces stiff competition from "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning" as early as Monday, which is when the action flick kicks off with nationwide fan events. Despite that, "The Red Door" could still conjure up a domestic gross of $55M, on par with the first "Insidious" and "Chapter 3."

"Insidious: The Red Door" may not be a franchise highlight but its financial success should compel Hollywood execs to finally take notes. 2023 has been a disastrous year for blockbusters, notably for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" and "The Flash." Both are based on IP and are part of billion-dollar franchises, but what connects them is their budgets of over $200M. As a result, both films need to make north of $5500M, potentially even $600M, to break even. Compare that to "Insidious: The Red Door," a film produced on a conservative budget of $16M, which is already on track to be successful. 

It's become all too common for summer blockbusters to boast incredibly high budgets and then fizzle at the box office. Disney, the studio behind "Dial of Destiny" should be obsessing over how "The Red Door," a film with mediocre reviews, is casually trumping their big summer fixture with minimal effort. If there's one thing Hollywood can learn from "The Red Door," it's that budgets should be modest. 

Most horror films that have been successful this year, including "M3GAN" and "Evil Dead Rise," boast budgets of less than $20M, yet they're making larger profits than some of the biggest blockbusters of the summer. And based on box office receipts, audiences seem to be far more interested in seeing horror films in cinemas than the latest legacy sequel or comic book film. Note that this year's "Scream VI" has made more domestically than "The Flash" and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" as of this writing. When all is said and done, 2023 might just be the year that Hollywood realizes horror is a safer bet than bloated comic book films and legacy sequels. 

While "Insidious: The Red Door" won't emerge as the biggest hit for Sony Pictures and Blumhouse, the production company behind the horror franchise, its opening weekend success confirms that audiences can expect more thrills. "The Red Door" wraps up the franchise's mainline story, but in a world where horror legacy sequels like "Halloween" and "Scream VI" are raking in domestic grosses of $100M+, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Lambert clan pop up again in the next decade.

What audiences can expect from the "Insidious" franchise is a number of spin-offs, not unlike "The Conjuring" universe, another horror series produced by James Wan. The franchise is already gunning for a sixth film. Directed by "Moon Knight" scribe Jeremy Slater, "Thread: An Insidious Tale" is already in the works. While speaking with Screen Rant, Wan opened up about how "Thread" will pave the way for more "Insidious" stories. "Leigh [Whannell] and I had kind of built this place called The Further in the 'Insidious' world, and we just felt like there were many stories within that that we can tell, and this is one of the potential stories that we're hoping to kind of get out there with the spinoff," Wan said.

Horror spin-offs work well at the box office and Wan is no stranger to them. Wan's "Conjuring" universe boasts five spin-offs (with a sixth in the form of "The Nun 2" on its way), and they've accounted for nearly $1.3B of the franchise's $2.1B total. The "Insidious" franchise is still in its early days, seeing as its only received prequels that tie into the main narrative. If "Thread" goes well, "Insidious" could become the next billion-dollar horror franchise, making Sony, Blumhouse, and Wan a solid chunk of change.