Several months back, the word of mouth on The Conjuring was pretty good, and the trailer looked pretty scary too. But we had no idea it would actually do better at the box office than Pacific Rim and The Lone Ranger.
It’s been a very rough summer, a lot of movies are tanking, and the Hollywood Reporter tells us that the real shock with The Conjuring is it’s actually made more money at the box office than the aforementioned Pacific Rim and The Lone Ranger. (Well, the Lone Ranger isn’t surprising, because it’s a bomb on the level of John Carter.)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Conjuring has already made $86.8 million in the U.S., and will probably reach $100 million soon. And what studios especially love about horror films is they’re not expensive, and can make a lot of money in return.
The Conjuring is a supernatural tale about a pair of ghosthunters directed by James Wan. (Wan also created the Saw series and directed the latest Fast and Furious movie.) Like The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring is based on a true story, and along with zombies, paranormal ghost stories are still a popular, and profitable, genre.
As a long time fan of the genre, it’s nice to see that horror is still going strong, and it’s also nice to see that the latest success story in the genre isn’t a tired remake of a beloved classic. While the success of The Conjuring won’t make Hollywood rethink their blockbuster mentality, it’s going to take a lot more bombs for that to happen, it’s especially nice to see the little guy come out ahead, especially with a genre that has long been considered disreputable.
