Get Out and IT in 2017 both changed the horror game forever. Part of their lasting influence was in instilling into Hollywood the truth that horror films could prove lucrative any time of the year. Thus, these titles were no longer sequestered to the most desolate parts of the calendar. Now horror movies like Nope could open in high-profile mid-July slots while Nosferatu just thrived with a Christmas Day premiere date. People like to get scared at the theater. That pleasurable experience endures no matter what time of the year it is.
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However, there is one spot in the year that, since the early 2010s, has become an especially financially prosperous spot to launch horror titles. That would be the first weekend of January, which has proven a lucrative launchpad for horror features as late as January 2023 with M3gan. Hollywood is clearly fond of launching this genre as one of the first new wide releases of a given year, but why? Where did this release approach come from?
The Devil (Inside) You Know Is Responsible for Early January Horror Movies
While certain horror titles had debuted in the first weekend of January for eons, one particular 2012 title led to the modern renaissance of motion pictures opening in this corridor. That would be the microbudget Paramount Pictures found-footage scary film The Devil Inside. Today, this movie is most well-known for scoring an infamous “F” CinemaScore grade as well as the story grinding to an abrupt halt to direct viewers to a website address that no longer works. Horror movies can put up with a lot, but not a motion picture functioning as just an ad for a website.
Still, The Devil Inside was preceded by a killer marketing campaign (which started on fellow horror Paramount horror hit Paramonal Activity 3) while its January 6, 2012 release date made it the first major horror movie in weeks. Audiences flocked to the title on opening weekend, giving it a massive $33-million domestic debut. After those first three days, The Devil Inside sank like a stone thanks to disastrous word of mouth. It would only hit $53.29 million domestically, but that was all on a $1-million budget. This title was printing money for Paramount just after its opening weekend.
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The Devil Inside, like other early January horror titles, benefited from the atmosphere of this time of the year. After all, studios don’t launch much big programming in January, as it’s a month that’s garnered a reputation for dismal newcomers for a reason. That offers minimal fresh competition for these horror movies launching in January’s first weekend. Plus, the chilly and dreary weather hitting many people right after New Year’s puts folks in the mood for some horror movies. When it’s cloudy and oppressively cold out, why not cozy up with a frightening feature that reflects these facets of reality?
What Other Early January Horror Hits Are Out There?
In the first three years after The Devil Inside, studios scrambled to capitalize on a new corridor for guaranteed horror movie success. Texas Chainsaw 3D, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, and The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death all opened over the first weekends of January in 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively. Insidious: The Last Key, meanwhile, would amass a staggering $29.58 million over this timeframe in 2018 while Escape Room would score a solid opening over this weekend in 2019.
Even just two months before theaters shut down for COVID-19, 2020’s The Grudge reboot opened over the January 3-5, 2020 weekend frame. It even scored the same “F” CinemaScore grade that The Devil Inside garnered eight years earlier. Once theaters began reopening, it would take M3GAN over the January 6-8, 2023 frame to revive the first weekend of January as a launchpad for lucrative horror movies. A spin-off of that feature, Soulm8te, is now set to kick off January 2026.
2024’s entry into this canon, Night Swim, proved that not every horror feature launching over January’s first weekend is guaranteed to become a stunning success. A killer marketing campaign and an innately compelling narrative hook are required to get people into theaters. If you’ve got those qualities, though, then this particular frame in January (thanks to some external real-world factors) can be an ideal place to send a horror title into theaters.