Horror fans are interested in Blumhouse's production model, with movie budgets sitting around $5 million and sometimes as low as $3 million. Jason Blum told Nightmare Magazine that he was inspired by how he put out Paranormal Activity and began using that model for other films. Blum said, "I love the notion of a movie being done very low budget and independently and then distributed by a studio. So what I set my sights on was to try and build a business around that idea, and everyone felt we would never be able to do that again but then we did Insidious pretty soon after Paranormal. After Sinister and The Purge, everyone decided we were onto something."
While many Blumhouse films have done incredibly well and made a ton of money, there is one film that made just a few hundred dollars. It's also not a film that is often talked about and seems to have slipped under the radar in general. Which Blumhouse horror movie made less than $1,000 at the box office? It's part of a famous horror franchise and is fascinating to hear about.
Amityville: The Awakening was released in 2017 and ended up making less than $1,000. The movie has a star-studded cast including Jennifer Morrison, McKenna Grace, Bella Thorne, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, telling the story of Belle Walker (Thorne) who starts living in the famous haunted house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island from The Amityville Horror. Joan (Jason Leigh) thinks that the house can save Belle's twin brother James (Cameron Monaghan) who is in a coma. The movie isn't critically acclaimed at all, with a 30% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and 32% audience score. There are some Blumhouse sequels that aren't great in terms of plot and storytelling and character development, but it's true that all of the movies have made more than this one.
According to Box Office Mojo, the movie made $742. Variety reported that the movie was only on 10 theater screens, which is pretty wild to think about, and it was also only in theaters for one day, which helps explain the low gross. While a movie can be released on a streaming service or video on demand and get a lot of attention through word of mouth, as fans discover and love the film, it's definitely true that box office numbers still matter in terms of how much money the movie is going to make. Often, when audiences think about a movie doing poorly at the box office, it would make around $1 million or maybe $2 million. But Amityville: The Awakening didn't even make more than $1,000.
This is definitely a surprise as Blumhouse has several high-grossing movies. There are some times when the movies just don't make that much money, though. In an interview with IndieWire, Jason Blum shared that he was disappointed that the 2015 film Jem and the Holograms didn't do well at the box office. Blum said, “We’re very sad. It is kind of ironic to be here imparting wisdom having released this movie that is crashing and burning at the box office. It is why I really love the movie business and am tortured by the movie business.” Blum added, "I’m proud of the movie. I stand by the movie, but I’m obviously sorry it didn’t do any better.” Box Office Mojo put the movie's worldwide gross at $2,333,684 which is definitely not great but more than $742.
Some might consider Amityville: The Awakening one of the best movies in The Amityville franchise, but unfortunately, no one got a chance to watch it in theaters, which contributed to its poor box office performance. It does sound like an interesting story since it's part of a world where the Amityville Horror house is real and terrifying.
It can be argued Blumhouse is so successful because Jason Blum champions his movies and really cares. As Blum told Forbes in 2021, sometimes things go wrong when launching and marketing a film: "We had a not a great experience with a film we did last year called Freaky, and I wasn’t happy with the distribution plan on that. It was my fault. It was my plan, and I made a bunch of mistakes." Freaky was in movie theaters in November 2020 and then in early December 2020, fans could watch it on video on demand. The movie became available on HBO Max in July 2021.
Would Amityville: The Awakening have succeeded if it had a longer theatrical run? It definitely seems like it would have made more than $742 if it was in theaters for a few months, but since the Amityville franchise isn't a popular slasher franchise or even one of the most beloved film franchises in general, it's hard to know how successful it could have been.