It was a big weekend for horror at the box office as both Sam Raimi’s Send Help and Markiplier’s Iron Lung opened in theaters. On one side, we have Raimi, a true Hollywood titan directing his first horror movie since Drag Me to Hell in 2009. On the other side we have Markiplier, aka Mark Fischbach, a massive YouTuber who independently produced an adaptation of a video game that ended up going toe-to-toe with a big studio release. In the end though, it was Raimi who narrowly came out on top.
See also: Sam Raimi’s SEND HELP On The Cover Of FANGORIA #30
Send Help opened with an estimated $20 million domestically, which was more or less in line with pre-release expectations. Iron Lung came in well above estimates with $17.8 million domestically, good enough for second place on the charts, but not quite enough to nab the top spot. All the same, given that it was made for just a few million dollars with next to no meaningful marketing budget, it shouldn’t be considered anything other than a massive success.
Internationally, Raimi’s latest nabbed an additional $8.1 million on a reported $40 million budget, while Markiplier’s feature debut pulled in $3.6 million. Again, Raimi’s movie is coming from Disney’s 20th Century Studios. Markiplier is self-distributing his movie and theaters that booked it largely did so due to overwhelming fan demand. These are two very, very different situations, both of which can be viewed as wins respectively. We don’t have to lower one to raise the other.
Send Help centers on two colleagues who become stranded on a deserted island in the aftermath of a deadly plane crash. They must overcome a strong dislike for one another and work together in order to survive. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) lead the cast.
Meanwhile, Iron Lung is set in a post-apocalyptic future after an event known as ‘‘the quiet rapture’ caused all known stars and habitable planets in the universe to disappear. A convict is sent to search an ocean of blood discovered on a desolate moon, using a small submarine. Fischbach stars in, writes and directs the adaptation personally.
Elsewhere, last weekend’s big new horror release Return to Silent Hill fell hard, dropping 70% and pulling in just $980,000 in its second frame. While the video game adaptation avoided certain death in its debut, it’s fading fast. Similarly, Sony’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is also dropping hard as well, pulling in just $1.6 million on its third weekend. It’s now made a mere $53.6 million worldwide and will struggle mightily to get to $70 million. Its predecessor made over $150 million globally.
Looking ahead, we’ve got a trio of new horror movies arriving this upcoming weekend with Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 3, IFC’s Whistle and Vertical’s Dracula all arriving in theaters over Super Bowl weekend. It will be the burden of choice for genre fans who don’t much care for football.
Send Help and Iron Lung are in theaters now.
