January tends to be a pretty quiet month, so far as the box office is concerned, but it’s also a month where the right kind of movie can find its audience. Such was the case for Primate, the new killer chimpanzee movie from Paramount Pictures and Johannes Roberts. Though not a blockbuster by any means, the modestly-budgeted horror movie found its audience this past weekend, becoming the year’s first horror hit in theaters.
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Primate opened to an estimated $11.3 million domestically over the weekend, good enough for second place on the charts. It couldn’t unseat Avatar: Fire and Ash ($21.3 million) in the top spot, that movie’s fourth frame atop the charts. But that shouldn’t be considered the bar for success for a movie like this either. It carries a reported $21 million budget. When taking into account the $2.1 million Roberts’ latest added overseas, a $13.4 million global start is a win here. It will need to hold in the coming weeks but either way, this is a solid start.
Audiences bought what Paramount was selling with Primate, an old-school, when animals attack picture. It’s a simple premise but one that was executed quite well. The studio was rather confident in the movie as they showed it at Fantastic Fest last September in Austin, Texas, confident that the buzz would be positive. It largely has been.
In the film, a group of friends’ tropical vacation away from college in Hawaii turns into a terrifying night of horror and survival when a friendly chimp named Ben becomes not-so-friendly anymore. The cast includes Johnny Sequoyah (Dexter: New Blood), Jessica Alexander (Fallen) and Troy Kotsur (CODA). Critics have generally been kind to the movie, which helped get butts in seats on opening weekend.
The weekend’s other big newcomer, Greenland 2: Migration, didn’t fare so well. The Gerard Butler disaster flick opened with just $8.5 million domestically, behind holdovers such as Zootopia 2 ($10.1 million) and The Housemaid ($11.2 million), which is now a certifiably huge hit coming up on $200 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. Paul Feig and Lionsgate are already moving forward with The Housemaid 2 as a result. Meanwhile, Sony’s Anaconda reboot added another $5.1 million, passing $110 million worldwide.
Looking ahead, it’s a rather crowded month for horror fans. We have 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple arriving this Friday, with Return to Silent Hill and Sam Raimi’s Send Help also on deck. Whether or not there’s room for all of them to thrive remains to be seen.
Primate is in theaters now. For more, get the lowdown on Johannes Roberts’ new killer shark movie The Red Triangle.
