2025 has been a shaky year at the box office, as original projects continue to stumble with nearly every new release. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners proved to be a major exception, earning $180 million domestically and thrilling viewers. Most of the prominent movies of the year, including A Minecraft Movie, Ne Zha 2, and Thunderbolts*, relied on name recognition to earn attention from audiences. The trend has held through since the pandemic began, as audiences have been hesitant to attend theaters in the age of streaming.
Horror movies have been able to buck concerning trends recently, as their relatively low budgets and easy marketability have made them more capable of surviving the tumultuous post-pandemic box office. Nope and Smile each earned over $100 million in 2022, while Five Nights at Freddy’s earned $137 million in 2023, despite enjoying a simultaneous streaming release. Each of these movies proved that horror movies are a unique theatrical draw, and the most recent horror movie is continuing those expectations.
Until Dawn Is Already Becoming a Success
Horror Movies Continue To Buck Trends In 2025
While it has maintained low awareness since its release, Until Dawn just achieved a mᴀssive box office win. Based on the hit video game from 2015, the movie serves as a prequel to that game, as it depicts another group suffering under the onslaught of Peter Stormare’s Dr. Hill. While the horror movie has struggled to entertain critics, earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 53%, ScreenRant‘s Mary Kᴀssel believes that Until Dawn is “steeped in a good old-fashioned love of the genre” and offered an 8 out of 10 rating.
Evidently, audiences have agreed with Kᴀssel, as the movie has already achieved a mᴀssive victory at the box office. After earning $3.8 million domestically at the box office this weekend and securing 5th place, it has earned a global take of $34.7 million, according to a report by Variety. Considering that it has a $15 million budget, it has officially doubled its overall total. Since most movies require an overall take of 2.5x the initial budget in order to achieve profitability, Until Dawn is well on its way to earning a profit.
Our Take On Until Dawn’s Box Office Milestone
This Is A Lesson For Hollywood
With so many movies, including Mickey 17, Black Bag, and Wolf Man, struggling to achieve success in 2025, Until Dawn could very well serve as another lesson to the industry. It has been successful largely because of its low budget and simple concept. The supernatural horror movie has not necessarily entertained critics, and it has only moderately earned the respect of audiences with its 67% Popcornmeter score, but even a minuscule word of mouth is effective with a $15 million budget. This movie should easily earn success, and it has its budget to thank for that.
Its $15 million budget meant that the studio never needed to concern itself with expensive marketing efforts.
Until Dawn has not had the name recognition of other prominent 2025 movies. Until Dawn certainly benefited from that exception, as its $15 million budget meant that the studio never needed to concern itself with expensive marketing efforts. It should be able to achieve profitability without ever risking broad campaigns, and it should see even more success when it comes to streaming. After all, despite limited marketing and a weak Tomatometer score, the movie has thrived in theaters.
Enjoy ScreenRant’s box office coverage? Click below to sign up for Brennan Klein’s weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check “Box Office” in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more:
Sign Up
Source: Variety
