This 2018 Horror Movie Set a Record That May Never Be Beaten (And It Broke the Franchise)

Horror films continue to be a significant part of movie revenue. Even now, when fewer people go to the cinema compared to the past, fans are still eager to see movies like Sinners, Weapons, and Final Destination Bloodlines. For a long time, the financial success of horror movies has been a valuable asset for studios, allowing them to produce films with relatively low budgets and then earn substantial profits if the project is well-received. Occasionally, though, a horror movie emerges that doesn’t just perform well at the box office-it becomes a massive hit, earning far more money than its competitors.

In 2018, Blumhouse and Universal Pictures brought back the Halloween franchise with a new film directed by David Gordon Green. This sequel continued the story of the original series and marked the first installment in eight years, making it the eleventh film overall. The timing of the release was beneficial for its success at the box office, and positive reviews combined with a lack of competing films created ideal conditions. Consequently, Halloween achieved a level of box office success that may be difficult to surpass.

Halloween Holds a Horror Movie Record Decades in the Making

Upon its release on October 19, 2018, Halloween earned $76 million domestically, instantly becoming the highest-earning film in the Halloween series. Ultimately, the movie more than doubled its initial earnings, taking in over $159 million within the US in just over a month. It also performed exceptionally well internationally, pushing its worldwide gross to more than $255 million.

Achieving that milestone, Halloween officially became the highest-grossing slasher film ever, surpassing an 18-year-old record previously held by the unexpected movie, Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man. The popularity of slasher films within the horror genre might lead some to believe that many significant films exist in the history of the subgenre, especially considering their success in the 1980s. However, the vast majority of these films were produced on low budgets and rushed into production, and while they often made a profit, it rarely reached hundreds of millions of dollars.

More recent films were the exception to this pattern. Scream and Scream 2 from the mid-90s remain popular slasher movies, earning $173 million and $172 million worldwide, respectively. This success continued with 2023’s Scream VI, which grossed $169 million globally. Therefore, it’s improbable that another slasher film will surpass Halloween, unless Scream 7 is released next year and becomes a surprise hit.

It’s worth noting that there aren’t many slasher films competing for the title of highest-grossing, but ultimately, Halloween‘s success set it apart from everything that came before. The movie successfully built upon the existing franchise, bringing Jamie Lee Curtis back after 16 years and giving her character a meaningful storyline. Plus, it was released during a period when movie ticket sales were exceptionally strong. This created the ideal circumstances for the boogeyman to become the most successful slasher film of all time.

Halloween (2018) May Have Broken the Franchise (and Horror)

The box office success of Halloween led to the usual consequences seen with any immediately popular horror film: demands for sequels and a wave of imitators. Two sequels to Halloween were made and released, with Halloween Kills coming out in 2021 and Halloween Ends premiering in 2022. While both films performed well financially – earning over $100 million worldwide despite also being available on Peacock – some believe they may have ultimately hindered the long-term prospects of the series and even the horror genre as a whole.

As the title “Halloween Ends” suggests, the latest film concluded the story, seemingly eliminating Michael Myers and finally giving Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode some peace. However, reports have surfaced that Miramax is working on a Halloween TV series. With the original movie’s 50th anniversary just three years away, it’s likely the franchise will return to theaters before long.

This leads to the challenge presented by the 2018 Halloween film. It not only created very high expectations for how much money the next films would make, but it also put the series’ timeline in a difficult spot – there’s nowhere to go forward without essentially starting over. No other horror series featuring a slasher villain has rebooted itself or disregarded previous sequels as if they never happened as often as Halloween. While the next film will likely require another reboot, the issue is that it can’t simply recreate the elements that made 2018 a success – like bringing back a major franchise star and making a direct sequel to the original. Instead, the series will have to try something completely different. This is a risky move for any studio working on a franchise, but it’s particularly concerning for one like this, where so much money is depending on its performance.

The success of Halloween had a big impact on the horror genre as a whole, inspiring studios to try and replicate its formula. While legacy sequels – continuations of established franchises – weren’t new to Hollywood, Halloween’s box office performance encouraged many others to attempt the same. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Candyman, and even Scream all received revivals designed to reboot their respective series. Although only Ghostface and the characters from Woodsboro managed to achieve even a fraction of Halloween’s success, that didn’t deter others from trying. Only time will tell what the future holds for the next installment featuring the boogeyman, and whether audiences will be eager to see it.

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2025-10-04 18:11

Halloween Holds a Horror Movie Record Decades in the Making

Halloween (2018) May Have Broken the Franchise (and Horror)

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