The weekend may have been dominated by Oscars talk in Hollywood, with Sinners winning big at this year’s Academy Awards. It’s normally a quiet weekend at the box office overall but A24’s buzzy new horror movie Undertone made quite a bit of noise. The low-budget sensation from writer/director Ian Tuason ended up performing much better than expected in its debut.
See also: Sit Back And Relax With A24’s Nightmarish UNDERTONE Guided Meditation Video
Undertone pulled in an estimated $9.3 million over the weekend, good enough for third place on the domestic charts. It was behind newcomer Reminders of Him ($18.2 million) and Pixar’s Hoppers ($28.5 million). Both of those were playing for much broader audiences and, not for nothing, were much more expensive to produce. Headed into the weekend, projections for A24’s latest were closer to $7 million. Horror stays winning.
The movie was produced for around $500,000, which is absolutely nothing by Hollywood standards. A24 then acquired the rights for between $3 and $4 million. That means it’s already well on its way to becoming profitable after just a single weekend. That’s also not counting whatever it’s going to do internationally.
The movie centers on the host of a popular paranormal podcast who becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way. Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas and Jeff Yung star. It’s apparently scaring people so badly they’re sleeping with the lights on.
While most studios avoid putting out big, buzzy movies on Oscar weekend, it provided A24 an opportunity to capitalize on a lack of meaningful competition. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. The Bride! bombed at the box office last weekend and fell off a cliff in its second frame, so that was a non factor. The door was wide open for something to swoop in and give horror fans something to get excited about.
Meanwhile, Scream 7 continued its big run in theaters, becoming the highest-grossing Scream movie ever after adding another $8.3 million domestically. Sadly, Bleecker Street’s Slanted fell a little short of expectations, pulling in just $617,000 and failing to crack the top ten. But that one was always going to be a VOD/streaming play anyhow.
Looking ahead, this Friday brings with it a much-anticipated sequel in the form of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. It’s going up against the sci-fi flick Project Hail Mary, which looks increasingly like it might be the year’s first legitimate blockbuster. Rounding out March will be Forbidden Fruits, They Will Kill You and the re-release of The Mummy Returns. Plenty for horror fans to look forward to.
Undertone is in theaters now.
