5 reasons why Nosferatu was a box office success

With Christmas in the rearview mirror, 2024 is almost in the books. But this year’s holiday frame has been particularly good for the box office, and both “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and “Mufasa: The Lion King” continue to top the charts. More importantly, several new releases also found their place to help close out the year on a high note, with director Robert Eggers’ impressive opener “Nosferatu.” The long-awaited remake of the classic vampire film has absolutely blown away expectations, and is a huge win for horror heading into the new year.

“Nosferatu” grossed $21.1 million over the weekend, but since the film hits theaters Wednesday as a Christmas slot, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Eggers’ latest film grossed a whopping $40.3 million over the entire holiday period, which was good enough for third place on the charts. Even against a big budget of $50 million, this project is an absolutely excellent start. It is one of the biggest debuts ever for a Focus Features release and its pre-release estimates have nearly doubled, The vampire film grossed just over $20 million From Wednesday to Sunday.

This development is all the more surprising given that vampires have seemingly been poison to film’s commercial prospects in recent years. Universal saw Renfield and Last Voyage of the Demeter fail in 2023.. Meanwhile, the studio suffered another theatrical disappointment in the vampire subgenre with “Abigail” earlier this year. However, Eggers has succeeded in shaking things up with his bold new take on the Dracula-inspired Nosferatu myth.

So, what happened here? How did Eggers defy the odds to deliver what appears to be a modern vampire classic in the making? We’ll take a look at the main reasons why “Nosferatu” was so successful at the box office. Let’s get into it.

Not that this always affects audiences, but when it comes to a big studio horror film, having critics on one’s side is never a bad thing. In the case of “Nosferatu,” the critics were firmly on its side. As of this writing, the film has a healthy approval rating of 86%. Rotten tomatoes With over 200 reviews counted. This generated significant buzz in the film’s final marketing push. Although the CinemaScore is considered a B-, that’s actually not bad for a horror film. As such, word of mouth should be decent as the weeks go by. To say the least, we’re not looking at a very divisive picture. People love what Eggers cooks.

/The Film’s Chris Evangelista praised “Nosferatu” in his review 9 out of 10He called it “truly scary” and “one of the best films of the year.” So, it’s not just that many critics like it. Those who like it seem to absolutely love it. Again, all of this helps build hype not only for these opening weekend numbers, but also for the remaining numbers in the following weeks, as well as for the international release. Right now, indicators are pointing strongly in the right direction.

Another thing that worked in this film’s favor was the general spectacle of horror in recent weeks. In short, there wasn’t much of a horror landscape at all. At the beginning of December, “Werewolves,” “Y2K,” “Get Away,” and “Nightbitch” were released in theaters on the same day. They all failed as well, which has left fans without many options over the past few weeks.

We have to go back to A24 “Heretic” starring Hugh Grant was released in early November to another huge success at the box office. Even in early December, “Terrifier 3” was largely sold out. All of this means that horror-seeking audiences were quite ready — if not starved — for something new by the time “Nosferatu” hit theaters on Christmas Day. Although the release date seems not entirely clear, the Focus has come out on the other side and looks very smart.

As previously mentioned, “Sonic 3” and “Mufasa” dominated the five-day Christmas box office with $59.8 million and $63.9 million, respectively. Other popular films such as “Wicked” and “Moana 2” also continued their excellent performances, while other newcomers such as A24’s “Babygirl” and James Mangold’s biopic “A Complete Unknown” performed better than expected. This means that there was a tremendous amount of competition in theaters during the holiday period. The main thing here? None of them were horror movies and most were family friendly shows. This gave Nosferatu a real opportunity to attack the counterprograms. It worked like a gangster for Focus.

Yes, family fare over Christmas will do well because it matches the spirit of the season. But not all moviegoers want something as smooth as “Mufasa” (with all due respect). For thrill seekers, “Nosferatu” was the most logical choice. Much like how “Gladiator II” proved to be a great countermeasure against “Wicked”. In November, this proved to be a great option for a large number of ticket buyers. Horror doesn’t have to be limited to summer or fall. Winter can be productive for these films, too, in the same way that blockbusters don’t have to be contained strictly in summer. Audiences want year-round entertainment, so that’s another way of looking at it.

Remarkably, “Nosferatu” now holds the record for the biggest Christmas opening for a horror film. What’s remarkable is that Robert Rodriguez’s “The College” ($11.6 million) held the record for 26 years after its release in 1998. No film achieves this level of success without a major marketing campaign. The focus, to its credit, gave the film a great experience.

the The trailers for “Nosferatu” effectively sold the creepy, gothic horror vibes to audienceswhile one of the biggest and boldest decisions the studio made was to completely hide Bill Skarsgård’s Count Orlok. It’s not unlike how NEON withheld the full reveal of Nic Cage from the “Longlegs” trailers. Likewise, it has proven to arouse curiosity in the minds of the potential audience. Which man who played Pennywise in the movie “It” will bring to the party as one of the most famous vampires in horror history?

From assembling an amazing cast to releasing quite a few stunning images into the world in the weeks leading up to release, it’s all worked out here. Lisa Bonnell, head of distribution at Focus Features, explained how the unexpected choice was in favor of the studio in an interview with diverse:

“When we dated the movie for Christmas, people weren’t saying, ‘Wow, that’s totally appropriate.’ The showrunners were surprised that we were going to do this gothic story on Christmas Day, and we were able to turn it into an event, and the movie itself was a success. This is always the most important thing.

Eggers achieved great success as a director with his first film, “The Witch.” This film was a relatively big hit in its day considering its small budget, and this earned Eggers a lot of credibility with hardcore horror fans. Likewise, his follow-up “The Lighthouse” was a qualified hit against expectations, but it was far from mainstream. In 2022, Eggers tried to do something a little more for the fans “The Northman” but had an opening of $12 million Against a budget of $90 million. It was a historical epic filtered through Eggers’ unique vision that failed to resonate with the average viewer.

Cut to now and the success that “Nosferatu” has enjoyed. It is, at once, still very much an Eggers film, while also being the first truly mainstream film (relatively) the director has ever made. When a horror film is successful, it has a very loyal audience. between the casting of Skarsgård as the title character And the making of a live-action horror film, “Nosferatu.” He was able to attract a very large audience. This was Eggers using all the cache he’d built up with cinephiles over the past decade and cashing in those chips to do something bigger in the realm of a genre that had mass appeal. It’s safe to say it worked out well for everyone involved.

“Nosferatu” is currently in theaters.