After much waiting, director Renny Harlin’s The Strangers: Chapter 2 hit theaters over the weekend. This is part of Lionsgate’s ambitious plan to turn Bryan Bertino’s original home invasion classic into a full-on trilogy. Thus far, it’s been a bumpy ride, one that just got a little bumpier. Sad to say, Chapter 2 fell well short of already muted expectations, leaving the fate of the already-planned Chapter 3 on uncertain ground.
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The Strangers: Chapter 2 opened to a very disappointing $5.9 million domestically on opening weekend, which was only good enough to land at number five on the charts. Overseas audiences, as of yet, haven’t been much help. It placed behind The Conjuring: Last Rites ($6.8 million), which is already on its fourth weekend. Meanwhile, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s buzzy, expensive One Battle After Another topped the charts with $22.4 million. That all left little room for these masked killers to make their mark.
In Harlin’s sequel, the killers learn that one of their victims, Maya (Madelaine Petsch), is still alive. They then return to finish what they’ve started. With nowhere to run, Maya must survive another horrific bout with The Strangers, who are driven by an unrelenting purpose to pursue her.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 arrived in May of last year, arriving with not-so-great reviews, which didn’t help set things off on the right foot. It opened with $11.8 million, which was still not what Lionsgate had been hoping for but good enough. It finished its run with $48 million worldwide. The sequel will fall well short of that number. Reviews were once again very lousy. That was reflected in the opening weekend number, which earned less than half of what its predecessor did. For what it's worth, these movies have never been critical darlings, but even the slasher faithful have turned their backs at this point, it seems.
The only good news is that the reported budget for each installment is said to be less than $9 million, as they were all shot at once. The bad news? Lionsgate now has to market Chapter 3 somehow, as it’s already in the can. Who knows? Maybe Harlin has a trick up his sleeve and the third installment is going to be the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, by then, most of the potential audience will, at best, be taking a “wait to stream” approach.
It certainly didn’t help that horror fans also had HIM ($3.6 million) and The Long Walk ($3.4 million) to choose from as well, making it a crowded weekend for the genre. Though HIM also had a very disappointing opening weekend, which sort of broke horror’s hot streak that had been going for much of the summer. Alas, they can’t all be winners.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is in theaters now. For more, check out our recent interview with Weapons director Zach Cregger.
