A24 Continues Its Tough Box Office Streak As New Star-Studded Horror Comedy Loses To Blumhouse Movie In Opening Weekend

A24 has produced some modern classics in the horror realm, and many of them have done incredibly well at the box office. Of the independent distributor’s top 5 highest-grossing movies of all time, two of them are horror films, including Hereditary and Talk to Me. The studio helped make a budding horror auteur out of Ari Aster, whose second film, Midsommar, also remains an iconic part of both Aster and A24’s oeuvre. Last year’s Heretic was another winner, making over $58 million worldwide and bringing in positive reviews.

That being said, A24’s horror movies have been on a rough streak in the past few months. For every Heretic success story, there seem to be more examples of films like The Front Room and Y2K, which fail to connect both critically and at the box office. Earlier this month, A24 had another flop with Opus. The Ayo Edebiri-led horror comedy has made just $2.1 million worldwide at the time of writing, coming nowhere near its estimated $10 million budget. Opus also got mixed reviews, managing only a 41% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. Now, A24’s latest horror attempt is also struggling.

Death Of A Unicorn Did Not Have A Great Box Office Debut

It Lost Out To Blumhouse

A24’s Death of a Unicorn struggled to beat out a Blumhouse horror movie in its opening weekend. The farcical horror film tells the story of a young woman named Ridley and her father, Elliot, who accidentally and unexpectedly hit a mystical (but bloodthirsty) unicorn with their car while on their way to a big pharma CEO’s wilderness retreat. While Ridley and Elliot attempt to cover their tracks, chaos ensues, making for a humorous and horrific ride. Death of a Unicorn‘s cast is packed with stars, including Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd, David Pasquesi, Richard E. Grant, and Will Poulter.

Per Box Office Mojo, Death of a Unicorn has struggled during its first weekend in theaters. The film made just $5.7 million at the box office this weekend. While it did sneak into the box office top five, this total meant that the A24 horror film lost out to Blumhouse’s The Woman in the Yard, which managed a $9.4 million debut.

What This Means For A24

They Need To Restore Their Horror Reputation

Death of a Unicorn‘s opening weekend is not a good sign for A24, as the producer continues on a rough streak for horror. The group has another horror film on the release calendar in the coming months, putting out Talk to Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou’s Bring Her Back at the end of May. Hopefully, this film can connect with audiences more than either Death of a Unicorn or Opus, or else A24’s horror reputation is in a seriously precarious spot.

Horror is not the only way for A24 to recover at the box office overall, however. Alex Garland’s war epic Warfare is one of the studio’s most imminent releases, coming on April 11. The director’s last film, Civil War, did incredibly well at the box office, making $127.3 million worldwide. This high total situated the movie as A24’s highest-grossing film in their entire catalog, surpassing even Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once. Death of a Unicorn may not be the independent distributor’s path to success, but their overall 2025 box office story could soon change for the better.

How Death Of A Unicorn Fits Into The 2025 Box Office Story So Far

Horror Has Been Inconsistent (But A24 Is Still Underperforming)

While Death of a Unicorn may be underperforming, it is doing so in a year that has been slow for horror so far. While two of the lackluster titles come from A24, tainting their reputation, even rival studio Blumhouse has had an early blunder. Despite being highly promoted, their studio’s Wolf Man only brought in $34.1 million during its January release. The film had a $25 million budget, so after the publicity costs are tacked on, it will likely have lost money.

Related

10 Recurring Trademarks In A24 Horror Movies

Every new A24 horror movie is an exciting fresh experience, distinguishable for their bleak atmosphere and strong lead performances.

AI horror thriller Companion, which featured A24 alum Sophie Thatcher, did a lot better at the box office by comparison. While the movie made only slightly more than Wolf Man, taking home $36.7 million, its smaller budget (an estimated $10 million) meant that it likely turned a profit. These two contrasting titles created an inconsistent start to the horror year for 2025, which was partially revived by the $32.9 million gross for Heart Eyes and The Monkey‘s $63.9 million run.

This box office history leads to an inconvenient truth for A24: while 2025 has been up and down for horror, A24’s first two efforts have dragged down the group. This puts even more pressure on the upcoming film Bring Her Back, which by then will have other horror films to be compared to as well. A24 needs the movie more than ever after Death of a Unicorn‘s early performance struggle.

Source: Box Office Mojo