Insidious: The Red Door Conjures $30 Million+ In Its Opening Weekend At The Box Office

Indiana Jones is no stranger to the supernatural, but even the intrepid tomb raider himself couldn't hold off the terrors of "Insidious: The Red Door." The fifth installment in the spooktastic franchise (which is also the directorial debut of star Patrick Wilson) has debuted on top; per The Hollywood Reporter, "The Red Door" opened to $15 million on Friday (including Thursday previews) and is now on track for a $30-33 million opening weekend at the domestic box office. That's the second-biggest debut for the franchise so far, behind the $40.2 million opening for "Insidious: Chapter 2," and just ahead of the $29.5 million for the previous entry, "Insidious: The Last Key."

Meanwhile, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" has been bumped down to No. 2 and is set to drop 58 percent or more in its second weekend, with an estimated take of $25-28 million. That's a fairly typical drop for a summer blockbuster, but it's the worst second-weekend drop for the "Indiana Jones" franchise so far — yes, even "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" managed a 55.3 percent hold in its sophomore weekend. Moreover, Indy's latest adventure really needed a strong hold after a lukewarm $60 million opening weekend. As we noted earlier this week, the real nail in the coffin for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" isn't its ticket sales but its ludicrous $295 million budget, which set the bar for breaking even at the box office sky high.

"Insidious: The Red Door" could be primed for a big drop next weekend. The reviews are not good, with a critic score of 36 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, and it also has the worst CinemaScore of the franchise so far: a C+ compared to a range of B- to B+ for the other entries. Its one saving grace may be the current dearth of horror movies on the big screen. "The Red Door" has no competition in the genre until "Cobweb" arrives on July 21, followed by "Talk To Me" on July 28.

On track for third place this weekend is "Sound of Freedom," a thriller about child trafficking with somewhat dubious "based on a true story" credentials, which stars Jam Caviezel in the lead role. Production company Angel Studios has previously found box office success via special event screenings of faith-based TV show "The Chosen," which had pulled in $35 million in ticket sales as of May 2023. Earlier in the week Newsweek reported that "Sound of Freedom" had pulled off an "incredible coup" by taking the No. 1 spot from "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" on July 4.

Did this indie movie really beat an Indy movie? Well, sort of ... but not really. Angel Studios' claim to the Tuesday top spot was dependent on including "ticket sales" from the studio's patent-pending Pay It Forward crowdfunding platform. Angel Studios reported total opening day numbers of $14.2 million, with the caveat that $2.6 million of that figure comes from Pay It Forward contributions. The idea is that the money all goes into a pot from which people can request free tickets to see the movie, but it's unclear how many tickets have been given away so far.

In terms of direct box office, the movie grossed $11.563 million on its opening day, though Deadline reports that this may include ticket sales from Monday previews. Either way, it falls short of the $11.698 million grossed by "Dial of Destiny" on Tuesday, so Angel Studios' claim to the Independence Day No. 1 spot is questionable. Nonetheless, The Hollywood Reporter estimates that "Sound of Freedom" will gross another $15 million over the weekend, and with a $14.5 million budget, it's sure to turn a profit by the end of its run.