Focus Features has itself a major hit as Nosferatu continues to tear it up at the box office. Director Robert Eggers’ latest has been hanging around the top five on the charts ever since it debuted over Christmas to a surprising $40.3 million. With virtually no other horror movies in theaters to compete with, the film has held its own even against the likes of Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, as well as Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, which topped the charts this past weekend with $15.5 million. So much so that it now ranks as one of the biggest vampire movies ever, save for the Twilight and Hotel Transylvania franchises.
Nosferatu added $6.8 million domestically to its ever-growing total over the weekend, landing at number four on the charts. It’s also continuing to find a sizable audience overseas. It has now amassed more than $81 million in North America to go with just shy of $56 million internationally for a grand total of $135.8 million – and counting. It will pass the $150 million mark before next weekend is up. $200 million worldwide could be in the cards before all’s said and done. Even in light of the film’s $50 million production budget, this should be a home run for Focus.
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Historically speaking, few horror-centric vampire movies have ever made more money globally. Only juggernauts such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula ($215.8 million worldwide) and Interview with the Vampire ($223.5 million) can claim such a feat. Even the biggest Underworld movie, 2012's Awakening, made $160.3 millon, a number Eggers' latest will pass sooner rather than later. To what degree one wants to consider 2004’s Van Helsing ($300 million) a pure vampire movie is up for debate. That’s also more of an action-first, horror-second affair anyhow, but I digress.
The Twilight films were absolute monsters, with Breaking Dawn, Part 2 making nearly $830 million worldwide. Even on the low end, the first film made $402 million. Those are YA movies with a tiny side of horror though. Meanwhile, the animated Hotel Transylvania films have made $1.4 billion across four entries to date, with Hotel Transylvania 3 pulling in $527.3 million. Now, we here at Fango are very much pro-gateway horror so those films have their place.
The point is, they’re family friendly and are open to a much larger audience. Eggers, meanwhile, helmed an R-rated remake of a gothic vampire tale with a pretty artistic bend. Heck, Focus didn’t even real Count Orlok in the marketing, though you can catch him on the cover of FANGORIA #26, which you can grab right here. All of this to say, it’s wildly impressive what this movie has accomplished.
Meanwhile, Den of Thieves 2 managed to pull off a bit of a surprise, coming in at number one for the weekend over Mufasa. That’s great news for Lionsgate as the studio desperately needed a win after suffering a string of flops last year including The Crow, The Killer’s Game and Borderlands. Whether or not this one has enough juice in the tank over the long haul to justify a third installment remains to be seen.
Looking ahead, horror fans will finally have something new to look forward to in the form of Blumhouse’s Wolf Man. This one hails from Leigh Whannell, the co-creator of Saw and the director of 2020’s The Invisible Man. Considering the man behind the camera, the material he’s working with and the great cast, this one has a lot going for it. There figures to be a new champion at the box office very soon…
You can check out the full list of the top ten movies at the box office for the weekend of January 10, 2025, below. For more, check out our list of the best horror movies of 2024.
- Den of Thieves 2: Pantera – $15.5 million (first weekend)
- Mufasa: The Lion King – $13.2 million (fourth weekend)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – $11 million (fourth weekend
- Nosferatu – $6.8 million – (third weekend)
- Moana 2 – $6.5 million – (seventh weekend)
- Wicked – $5 million (eighth weekend)
- A Complete Unknown – $5 million (third weekend)
- Babygirl – $3 million (third weekend)
- Game Changer – $2.1 million (first weekend)
- The Last Showgirl – $1.4 million (fifth weekend)
