HOLLYWOOD—With the box-office debut of “Scream 7” this weekend, I think it’s clear to say that horror has returned in a big way in the past 10 years. So much to the point that we are seeing bigger and bigger openings at the box-office. By the way, “Scream 7” earned over $64 million during its opening weekend, the highest opening for any of the films in the franchise. The record remains with the 2017 film “IT” which earned over $123 millions since its debut, but flicks like “Halloween” (2018) earned over $76 million opening weekend, “The Conjuring: The Last Rites” made $84 million in 2025 during its opening.
So, what is this trend? It is simple: horror is a major box-office draw. It has been for decades. “Weapons” opened to $43 million in August 2025, while “Sinners” earned over $47 million during opening weekend and broke records with 16 Oscar nominations. So why do people like horror? It is an experience; we all like to be scared and when done with an audience, it is even more thrilling.
You can absolutely watch a horror movie without a massive audience, and it can still be very entertaining. However, I will never forget certain movies I watched in a theater that delivered moments hard to put into words. My first ever horror movie was when I was 4 years old. I have always had a fascination with them because ‘they’ were those movies that you were not to see as a kid. I remember desperately wanting to see “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers” only to be denied by my mom, just a year later I had a fascination with wanting to see “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.” Didn’t see it, but I asked my cousin at the time, who was a teen, all about it.
I got my first chance in 1989, at the age of 5 to see “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.” I don’t remember the movie much because I had my eyes closed most of the time. It was either that flick or “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.” My father made the choice, but my mom made it clear, if he has ANY nightmares you’re dealing with it. My teenage years brought some of my best experiences, the 1997 flick “I Know What You Did Last Summer” delivered more jump scares, screams and shocks that I ever recall seeing a horror movie.
I will never forget seeing “Scream 2” and that reveal of Debbie Salt being Mrs. Loomis the other killer. There were audible gasps and shocks from EVERYONE in the audience because no one expected it. Other fun theater experiences included, “The Ring,” “The Grudge,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2023),” “Halloween (2018),” “IT (2017),” “The Final Destination,” “The Conjuring” and “The Conjuring 2” are just a few. Not every horror film is a hit, but when the movie aims to bring back nostalgia and develop the story a bit it can deliver fantastic experiences in the theater for the moviegoer.
You know what is unfolding cannot truly happen, but there is always that thought, “What if?” And to be honest horror films make you think. Are you going to run upstairs or out the front door? Are you going to call 911 or entertain a stalker on the phone? Will you go investigate a strange sound in a home all alone without arming yourself with a weapon.
Do you go for the kill knowing there is a possibility the villain isn’t actually dead? So many questions so many possibilities. It’s not likely to happen, but horror taps into the realm of adrenaline for many Americans and as a result your blood flow gets moving and you get excited. Do I see the trend of horror dying at the box-office? No, but I see the trend of horror reboots of remakes starting to become tired.
Nostalgia is the trend so far with franchises like “Halloween,” “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” getting fresh takes. I worry greatly about someone taking a stab at “A Nightmare on Elm Street” before my idea gets out there and killing the notion of Freddy Krueger or the return of Jason Voorhees and that hockey-mask which has been MIA for close to 20 years since the last outing.
There needs to be some fresh ideas carved out in the horror universe. The 1980s so the boom of horror and the death of it because too much of the same continued to be cranked out that people just became exhausted. Trust one thing, movie studios are indeed watching, so be prepared for “Scream 8” which I am certain will hit movie theaters in 2027 or 2028.
Here is one interesting note, the franchises of today don’t crank out horror movies year-after-year like they did in the 80s. I mean we got 8 movies in the “Friday the 13th” franchise from 1980-1989, we got 5 “Halloween” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” films within 12 years and 5 years for both franchises.
Today, not so much, “Scream” has just hit its seventh flick after 30 years since the original debuted. So, if a movie is a miss, time is taken to reflect see what works and what doesn’t work and go back to the drawing board. Horror is here to stay; it’s just a question of when the next iteration of the genre will take the masses by the storm.
Written By LaDale Anderson
