5 Reasons A24's Talk To Me Is Already A Box Office Hit
It was a pretty big weekend at the box office — "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" both continued their hot streaks while Disney suffered another flop this summer with "Haunted Mansion." But another, far less flashy horror movie also entered the fold this past weekend and managed to surprise the industry in the form of A24's acclaimed "Talk to Me." The movie didn't exactly come out of nowhere, as it's been earning a great deal of acclaim on the festival circuit this year. But it did manage to do better than anyone thought it would.
The debut feature from Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou took in $10 million domestically on its opening weekend, placing sixth on the charts scarcely behind Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One." One might have thought a little horror movie like this would have run the risk of getting buried amidst the competition in the middle of the jam-packed summer moviegoing season. Instead, we find ourselves with a sleeper hit. In honor of that, we're going to break down what went right with A24's latest on the road to an unexpected box office win.
The budget was low
As is always the case, everything is relative when it comes to the box office. Disney's "Haunted Mansion" opened to $24 million this past weekend — an absolute disaster for a movie with a $150 million budget. In this case, however, A24's buzzy horror flick was produced for just $4.5 million (before marketing). Even with a strong marketing campaign, you're looking at a film that didn't have to make nearly as much to get to profits. Even if the "Talk to Me" has a big drop-off in its second weekend, it should do just fine in the end, particularly as it makes its way to other markets overseas. Low risk, high reward.
Reviews were strong
Not every movie with great reviews finds success, but it certainly never hurts anything, particularly when it comes to a low-budget, original horror film. "Talk to Me," very fortunately, benefits greatly from strong buzz. You can read /Film's review from Sundance here. Currently, the film sits at a stellar 95% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, to go with a very solid 83% audience rating. It also notched a B+ CinemaScore, which is good relative to what the horror genre generally drums up, as these films tend to score lower than say a family-friendly crowdpleaser like "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." The point is that all signs from critics and audiences alike are positive and suggest more than decent word of mouth.
A very good trailer
I've said this before in other musings about box office success stories, but it always bears repeating: You simply can't underestimate the power of a great trailer. When looking back at nearly any hit movie, it is never surprising to find that there was a great trailer playing in theaters to get the hooks into potential moviegoers. "Talk to Me" had a damn good trailer that was clearly capable of letting even casual moviegoers know that this was something worth putting on their radar. A trailer is the cornerstone of any marketing campaign and sure, this movie had a good poster too, but that footage is what can best put meat in seats. It worked in this case.
Horror's big winning streak
This is also far from the first time I've brought this up over the past year and change, but horror has been cinema's most reliable genre since the pandemic began. Period. We've even seen the limitations of the superhero genre this year, with films like "The Flash" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" falling short of expectations. Those expectations are sky high, admittedly, but that goes back to the relativeness of it all. In any event, horror has stayed winning with very few misses over the past couple of years. But when the hits come, they hit big. Just look at Parker Finn's "Smile" making $217 million last year against a budget of $17 million. Or "M3GAN" taking in $179 million this year against a $12 million budget. Those are just a couple of examples but it seems "Talk to Me" is poised to join the ever-growing list of post-pandemic horror hits helping to prop up the industry right now.
A24's good name
Though it may not be the biggest factor in the equation, the good will that the A24 name had earned over the last decade or so cannot be dismissed out of hand. We're talking about the studio that brought "Everything Everywhere All at Once" to theaters, the movie that ultimately went on to dominate the Oscars earlier this year. We're also talking about, for horror fans, the studio behind "Hereditary," "Midsommar," "X," "The Witch," and "Bodies Bodies Bodies," among others. Certain audiences have become hip to what A24 does and that name alone can help get some people in the door. It certainly seems to have helped this one best expectations.
"Talk to Me" is in theaters now.