Candyman has netted a good-looking $22.4M head start at the Box Office this weekend, an impressive chunk for a horror film free of typical frontloading. In fact, this earns it a spot as the 4th highest debut for a late August film on record, squeaking in behind Final Destination (2009), Don’t Breathe (2016), and Halloween (2007). Given that the Halloween opening weekend was also a Labor Day opener, you can even argue it deserves a third-place spot. We went to entertainment lawyer Los Angeles Brandon Blake for his opinion on this impressive statistic, and the post-pandemic horror boom in general.

Exceeding industry expectations

It’s an opening weekend that exceeded all expectations for the film, and there’s an approaching 3-day holiday second weekend fast approaching to bolster those stats further. It’s one of the first strong theatrical runs we’ve seen for the domestic box office this year. Nor is Candyman your quintessential cut-and-paste horror offering. With an intense thriller plot and an interesting hook to attempt to draw African-American viewers into the genre, it brings a little theatrical substance to the table, too. Shot at the end of 2019 for just under $20M, its strong opening weekend is an added cherry on the top of great critical reception that should carry it through its 21-day theatrical window satisfactorily.

Universally enjoyed

While LA and Chicago generated 12 of the top 25 theaters for the film, and Milwaukee putting forward a strong showing too, it played fairly equally across the continental US. In a first for mainstream horror, the moviegoer stats were also dominated by African American viewers (37%), with Caucasian and Latino demographics making up most of the rest. Unsurprisingly, the 18-34s dominated at 69% of attendance, with the audience being 53% male.

Yet Candyman is something of a Box Office aberration at the minute. We’ve seen other titles at the top end of the charts perform tremendously well- Jungle Cruise and Free Guy both spring to mind. Yet the middle and bottom of the charts continue to sag, with Weekend 35 of 2021 expected to net only $62M or so. While audiences will still answer the siren call of the top performers, there’s little traction for the rest between new pandemic fears and day-and-date releases keeping home streaming enticing.

Riding the horror wave

Horror and gore releases are nothing new for this time of year as producers gear up to ride the Halloween wave- just look at our top performer list above. Yet broader trends indicate that horror is the genre for producers, especially indie producers who can bring something novel to the table, to be in right now. There’s several factors playing into this. Firstly, its popularity in the 18-34 demographic is key, with older adults still reluctant to attend cinemas and families with small, unvaccinated children still skipping too. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, it’s a genre that pulls at people in times of crisis, providing a cathartic way to work through tough emotions.

With the backing of a social media explosion, including some smartly positioned featurettes highlighting the room for young black creators in the horror genre, Candyman has come at the perfect time for a market hungry for well-produced, spine-chilling horror offerings. While its final Box Office tally will have to wait for now, it’s a promising boom right at the time the theatrical industry could most do with it, and part of a horror wave that seems set to dominate the early 2020s movie landscape through and through. It’s a niche we will be watching closely going forward, that’s for sure.