INTERVIEW: HORROR MOVIES AT THE BOX OFFICE
Dr. Scahill was quoted recently in a piece about the long-range box office success of recent horror films like Get Out, A Quiet Place, It, and the recent Jordan Peele project Us. As Sarah Shevenlock notes, 2017 was the first year that the horror genre made over $1 billion collectively. Weekend box office returns for Us show a record-breaking $70 million opening, doubling Peele's previous film Get Out, and ranking as the third-largest ever opening for an R-rated film.
Contributors to the article offered a variety of explanations for the horror genre's staying power at the box office, including social media campaigns and the pleasure of collective spectatorship for the horror genre. Dr. Scahill suggests that the horror genre's contemporary success may be the result of expensive blockbuster offerings which privilege predictable plots over narrative innovation. Read the full artcle here.
