5 Reasons Why Terrifer 3 Killed It At The Box Office

In what might be the craziest box office story of the year, Bloody Disgusting and Cineverse's "Terrifer 3" has triumphed against all odds, becoming the number one movie in the country. Just a few weeks ago, this would have been unthinkable, if not laughable. But this is no laughing matter as Damien Leone's ultra-gory, underrated slasher film has cemented Art the Clown as a modern slasher icon, while becoming instantly profitable for all involved.

"Terrifier 3" opened to an estimated $18.3 million over the weekend, easily taking the top spot on the charts. That means it made more in one weekend than "Terrifier 2" ($15 million) did during its entire run in 2022. What's more, the film only played on 2,514 screens, far less than the 3,000 or more we typically see for a number one film. That means it had a stellar per-screen average north of $7,000. Less than two weeks ago, estimates had the latest installment in the "Terrifier" franchise taking in closer to $8 million opening weekend. That proved to be hilariously conservative. Leone's bloody Christmas-set killing spree is perhaps the most unlikely number one movie of the 2020s so far. To say that this is surprising would be an understatement. 

So, what went so right for this independently produced slasher? Why is this such a big deal? What events transpired to pave the way for this film to succeed on such a grand scale? We're going to go over the biggest reasons why "Terrifier 3" killed it at the box office. Let's dig in.

Critics can frequently be hard on horror. Even stone-cold classics such as Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" were not exactly met with universal praise in their day. This to say, it's shocking that a movie as gory and unfriendly to mainstream audiences as "Terrifier 3" managed to garner very favorable reviews. Both critics and audiences have largely embraced what Leone has delivered, with the film carrying a 76% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, to go with a downright amazing B CinemaScore. In the realm of horror, a B is more like an A for the average Hollywood blockbuster. This suggests word of mouth will be great. /Film's Jacob Hall called it "one of the nastiest horror movies ever made" in his review of "Terrifier 3" out of Fantastic Fest. 

The buzz helped this film find its intended audience in a big way. Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting managed to run a very effective, very targeting marketing campaign (the total investment is said to be in the $5 million range, which is nothing by Hollywood standards). Because the marketing spend was so minimal, everything from here on out is going to be money in the bank. And because the reviews are so positive (relatively speaking), the film will have a much longer shelf life. 

One of the biggest factors that allowed this unexpected situation to transpire is the catastrophic fall of "Joker: Folie a Deux." The sequel to 2019's "Joker" opened to just $37.8 million against miserable reviews. Given that the first film made more than $1 billion and was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, there was a broad assumption that the sequel would also be a box office juggernaut. That didn't exactly pan out. Not only was the film's opening weekend bad, but it suffered one of the biggest second-weekend drops of all time.

"Joker 2" made just $7 million in weekend two, representing a drop of more than 81%. It slid to number three on the charts, with the very well-reviewed "Wild Robot" staying at number two. Because no other major releases were scheduled for this weekend, that cleared the part for "Terrifier 3" to have its wildly unlikely moment in the sun. When "Joker 2" bombed, many theaters began booking "Terrifier 3" because it stood a better chance of putting butts in seats. All of that scuttlebutt created an awful lot of free press for the slasher sequel, which only served to help get it on people's radar heading into the weekend. One clown's misfortune proved to be another clown's path to glory.

For bigger movies, there is a rough rule of thumb that one should double the budget to account for marketing. That's often essential as people need to be aware of a movie to sell tickets, but it also means profit is further away. In the case of "Terrifier 3," the team opted to rely more on word-of-mouth and ultra-targeted, mostly online advertising. While other films have tried to execute this sort of marketing campaign before, it's easy to argue this is now the most effective demonstration of it working.

"Terrifer 3" is unrated. It is unrelentingly gory. There have been reports of people walking out of screenings. That all made the film feel taboo and dangerous. That kind of buzz is going to turn off certain viewers, but it only served to fuel the rabid, horror-hungry audiences, some of whom took this on as a challenge of sorts. In the pandemic era, the "I'll wait for streaming" mentality is a real thing. In many cases, it's either a "must-see" movie or audiences will just stay home. "Terrifier 3" earned the "must-see" branding for horror hounds and that word of mouth spread without the need for TV spots or other similarly expensive methods of advertising.

There is a good chance that many people are only hearing about "Terrifier" for the first time because of what transpired at the box office over the weekend. But Damien Leone has been plugging away with this franchise for more than a decade, with Art the Clown making his feature debut in the "All Hallows' Eve" anthology back in 2013. The original "Terrifier" was at best a modest success relative to its tiny budget. Things changed when "Terrifier 2" arrived in 2022 though, which helped set the stage for what happened this past weekend.

"Terrifier 2" was well over two hours long, was also ultra-gory, and was a sequel to a 2016 movie that didn't have a huge impact at the time of its release. Yet, against a mere $250,000 budget, it legged out to just shy of $11 million domestically, to go with nearly $5 million overseas. But the film opened to just $805,000, creating a slow build that eventually made the film a big hit. From a financial standpoint, that success paved the way for an even bigger murder spree in "Terrifier 3." But how does one go from a sub-$1 million opening to a near-$20 million opening?

It all goes back to "Terrifier 2." All of that buzz at the time led to lots of people catching up with the franchise over the last couple of years. Meanwhile, Art the Clown has become a true modern icon of the genre. It's been bubbling up for two years, with this huge opening weekend proving just how far Mr. Leone and his killer clown have come.

The first half of 2024 was rough all around for the box office. Save for a few hits like "The Beekeeper" and "Dune: Part Two," it was a lot more bad than good right through May. Even in the realm of horror, films like "Night Swim" and "Imaginary" were relatively successful, but failed to deliver hits on the level of something like "M3GAN." Be that as it may, the outlandish success of "Terrifier 3" has reaffirmed that horror is still Hollywood's most reliable genre, particularly during the pandemic era. Since the huge opening for "A Quiet Place: Day One" in early July, horror has once again been on a hot streak.

"Longlegs," another indie success, made more than $100 million worldwide. "Alien: Romulus" made $350 million worldwide, becoming the biggest horror movie of the year overall, unless one counts "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" in that category. Either way, horror has stayed winning. That all helped tee up the ball for "Terrifier 3." We haven't had a new slasher series in some time for audiences to get excited about. That's a big reason why this movie had one of the five biggest horror openings of 2024, even though the rest of that list is dominated by much bigger, studio-backed movies.

More than anything, it's a reminder that horror can be a low-risk, high-reward genre. It doesn't always work, just look at Lionsgate's "Never Let Go." But when it works, it really works. Horror-seeking audiences are amongst the most loyal. Do right by them, and they will do right by the movie in question. It's clear that Leone and Art the Clown did right by audiences this time around.

"Terrifier 3" is in theaters now.