The Watchers Continues Horror's Disappointing Year At The Box Office

Another weekend in the books, another disappointing opening for a much-anticipated horror movie. Warner Bros. released Ishana Night Shyamalan's "The Watchers" in theaters this past weekend, and given that the daughter of "The Sixth Sense" director M. Night Shyamalan was getting into the family business, there was excitement around this one. Unfortunately, the end result left much to be desired in the early going, both critically and commercially.

"The Watchers" opened to an estimated $7 million in its debut domestically. It opened against "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," which easily won the weekend with an impressive $56.5 million opening. Unfortunately, even though this seemed like an example of solid counterprogramming, Shyamalan's mysterious horror flick landed at number four on the charts, also placing behind "The Garfield Movie" ($10 million) and "IF" ($8 million). Those movies were in their third and fourth weekends, respectively. Needless to say, this isn't what WB had in mind.

It's not exactly a full-blown disaster, as WB paid $30 million to acquire the film. So it didn't cost a fortune. When we factor in the $4.7 million from international audiences thus far, coupled with the fact that the movie still has quite a few territories to open in over the coming days/weeks, things could improve. The problem is that this is yet another example of a big horror movie not living up to expectations in 2024. It's a pattern that has helped make a bad situation worse. Ticket sales are way down this year compared to last year, and that has left the industry at large searching for answers. So what's going on with horror right now? That's a big question to try to answer.

"The Watchers" follows Mina, an artist who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in Ireland. She finds shelter but unwittingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are stalked by mysterious creatures each night. The cast includes Dakota Fanning ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"), Georgina Campbell ("Barbarian"), Oliver Finnegan ("Outlander"), and Olwen Fouere ("The Northman").

Shyamalan's directorial debut was not met with a warm welcome from critics or audiences. /Film's Jeremy Mathai called it uneven but promising in his mixed review of the film. It posted a rough C- CinemaScore, which suggests word of mouth is not good, and that will hurt its chances at holding well in the weeks to come. It's a familiar pattern when it comes to studio horror films in 2024.

"Night Swim" ($54 million) remains the biggest Hollywood horror movie of 2024, and that's a far cry from what we've seen in recent years when films like "Smile" ($217 million), "M3GAN" ($180 million), and "The Black Phone" ($161 million) became unexpected breakout hits. Last year, we had franchise hits like "Scream VI" ($169 million), "Evil Dead Rise" ($147 million), and "Insidious: The Red Door" ($189 million), among others. Meanwhile, this year has seen the likes of "The First Omen" ($53 million), "Abigail" ($41 million), and "The Strangers: Chapter 1" ($38 million) fail to live up to expectations. It's largely indie offerings like "In a Violent Nature" and "Late Night with the Devil" that are succeeding because they aren't shouldering much in terms of expectations.

So why haven't we had a breakout horror hit in 2024 yet? Is the horror bubble bursting? My gut tells me no. The difference here is that most of these movies, save for "The First Omen," were met with a mixed reception at best. Stuff like "Smile" and "M3GAN" benefited greatly from strong word of mouth, which has been lacking in this year's big studio slate. Now, if M. Night Shyamalan's "Trap" comes out of the gate with strong reviews and flounders, then we might want to hit the panic button. For now, though, the culprit seems like it could be a perceived quality issue. Fingers crossed things turn around as the year progresses.

"The Watchers" is in theaters now.