Knock at the Cabin, an apocalyptic horror film from director M. Night Shyamalan, was the weekend’s highest-grossing movie in US and Canadian theaters, knocking out Walt Disney Co.’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which held that spot for seven weeks in a row.
(Bloomberg) — Knock at the Cabin, an apocalyptic horror film from director M. Night Shyamalan, was the weekend’s highest-grossing movie in US and Canadian theaters, knocking out Walt Disney Co.’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which held that spot for seven weeks in a row.
- The Universal Pictures film generated $14.1 million in ticket sales domestically in its first weekend, researcher Comscore Inc. said Monday. That was below Boxoffice Pro’s forecast of $18 million to $27 million.
- 80 for Brady, a comedy from Paramount Pictures about four octogenarian women attending the Super Bowl to watch their hero play, came in second place with an estimated $12.7 million in its domestic debut.
Key Insights
- Knock at the Cabin’s debut follows a string of successful original horror films last year. Although theater ticket sales are still about a third below pre-pandemic levels, the horror genre has proved more dependable than others for studios, with the likes of Universal’s Black Phone, Paramount’s Smile, and Barbarian by Disney’s 20th Century Studios all selling tickets equaling about 10 times their budgets.
- The film, starring Dave Bautista, is based on the 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay. Knock at the Cabin follows a family, vacationing at a remote house in the woods, that’s taken hostage by four armed strangers demanding they make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse.
- 80 for Brady, a rare film with an ensemble cast of older women, was the subject of an unusual promotion. AMC theaters offered seats at lower prices than other films running at the same time.
- The Way of Water, directed by James Cameron and released in December, took in $11.3 million, finally slipping from No. 1. It is the highest-grossing film to come out since the start of the pandemic and the fourth-highest of all time, with $2.17 billion in global ticket sales. Disney has kept the film exclusively in theaters, drawing fans who want to see it in large screen and 3D formats.
Get More
- See the schedule for upcoming releases.
- See Boxoffice Pro’s long-range forecast.
–With assistance from Brian Eckhouse.
(Updates with final weekend totals.)
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