‘The Boogeyman’ Domestic Box Office Scares Up Modest Debut

The Boogeyman managed to scare up a moderately sized weekend at the box office as the latest Stephen King-based horror film debuted with $12.3 million domestically to a $20 million worldwide total, according to a recent report from Bloody Disgusting. Opening in third place at the box office, the film sits behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s $120.5 million debut and The Little Mermaid, which managed to showcase strong legs this weekend with $40.6 million.

Compared to other recent film adaptations of King stories, The Boogeyman opened significantly bigger than last summer’s Firestarter, which fizzled with a $3.8 million debut following its day-and-date release model. One benefit The Boogeyman has, besides better critical reception, is its commitment to a fully-fledged theatrical release, a decision made after positive test screenings. However, despite the decent opening, which could be attributed to its audience-friendly PG-13 rating, the film still falls slightly shorter than Pet Sematary’s $24.5 million opening alongside Doctor Sleep’s $14.1 million.

With a production budget of $35 million, the film’s legs will be the ultimate indication if the movie can break even. While the summer movie season appears to be crowded, keep in mind that The Boogeyman serves as appropriate counter-programming to the family-friendly releases this month. With no other additional major horror movie set to debut in theaters until July with the release of Insidious: The Red Door, The Boogeyman has the next few weeks to utilize some additional scares from audiences.

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‘The Boogeyman’ Signals Potential Success With Other Stephen King Films

The moderate success of The Boogeyman showcases that movies based on King stories can still resonate at the box office, which is a promising sign for Warner Bros. as the studio is set to release a new adaptation of Salem’s Lot. However, the film was recently pulled from Warner Bros. schedule, with no word yet on when to expect its eventual debut in theaters. Hopefully, The Boogeyman could serve as an indication that audiences continue to hunger for new horror content, which should come as no surprise given that 2023 has proven to be an incredibly strong year for the genre. While Salem’s Lot may remain in limbo for now, fans of the beloved author can still dive back into another one of his most classic and terrifying stories with The Boogeyman, which is now haunting in theaters.

The Boogeyman is now playing in theaters. Check out the official trailer for the brand-new horror film below.