Sam Raimi’s New Horror Movie Breaks a 17-Year Box Office Record

Sam Raimi is a veteran of comic book adaptations, helming blockbuster hits such as the original Spider-Man trilogy and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But in some circles, he is better known as a master of horror, having delivered the Evil Dead series, Darkman, and Drag Me to Hell. Raimi’s history with the genre is a main reason why there was some excitement for Send Help, the director’s new thriller that stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. Fortunately, that enthusiasm has led to a strong showing at the box office, and Send Help looks like it will break a personal record for Raimi.

According to Variety, Send Help is estimated to earn $20 million domestically during its opening weekend, narrowly beating out video game adaptation Iron Lung ($18 million) for the top spot. That figure is the highest opening ever for a Raimi-directed horror movie, surpassing the $15.8 million Drag Me to Hell earned back in 2009. Send Help also grossed another $8.1 million internationally, bringing its cumulative global debut to $28.1 million.

Can Send Help Have Strong Legs at the Box Office?

It’s nice to see Send Help, an original horror movie, get off to such a solid start at the box office. Horror is typically fairly reliable as far as commercial draws go, but the genre is still prone to the occasional disappointment. In mid-January, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple fell well short of initial projections despite very positive reviews. Send Help also had strong word of mouth leading up to its premiere (netting one of Raimi’s highest Rotten Tomatoes scores ever), and more importantly, it was far more successful at connecting with general audiences. While The Bone Temple is part of a more niche horror franchise, Send Help had all the makings of a more traditional crowd-pleasing genre exercise.

Disney was smart about where it slotted Send Help on the release calendar. January historically is not a huge month for new releases, so dropping the mid-budget horror film now meant it could take advantage of weak competition. There isn’t much of note coming out over the first weekend of February, so there’s a decent chance Send Help stays on top of the box office charts for at least another week. It is worth mentioning that fellow horror movie The Strangers — Chapter 3 debuts this coming Friday, but that property isn’t a major draw. Last year, The Strangers — Chapter 2 grossed $21.9 million worldwide for its entire run.

It will be interesting to see how well Send Help holds. The positive reviews should continue to give its box office prospects a boost, as the general consensus is the film is worth seeing on the big screen thanks to its high concept and strong performances. That being said, horror movies can sometimes be front-loaded, making most of their money opening weekend before business starts to fall off. There were titles last year that bucked that trend, like Sinners and Weapons, so this isn’t a hard rule that applies to all horror films. Admittedly, Send Help is unlikely to have the same kind of awards buzz Sinners and Weapons have (so there’s less of a FOMO factor that drives people to the theater), but it was still well-received, and it’s still a fairly quiet time of the year.

If The Strangers — Chapter 3 isn’t much of a draw, then Send Help could have a nice runway as the top horror movie on the market for the next few weeks. Late February sees the release of the highly anticipated Scream 7, which should be a major hit (there’s also Psycho Killer coming out a week before then). This month is full of new releases like Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die and Crime 101, but these all seem to be smaller projects targeting fans of specific genres than four quadrants. Depending on how things go, Send Help could have a bit of a monopoly over its core demographic before Scream 7 arrives.

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