The Big Picture
- Sony’s
Tarot
opens to disappointing numbers, finishing 4th at the box office. - Despite meeting its production budget,
Tarot
‘s global performance signifies challenges in the horror genre. - Recent horror movies like
The First Omen
and
Abigail
have also under-performed, impacting the industry.
The latest in a string of studio horror movies to under-perform at the box office, Sony’s Tarot opened to soft numbers this past weekend. Written and directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, Tarot finished fourth on the domestic box office chart, behind the summer’s first tent-pole, The Fall Guy, and a 25-year-old film that most people don’t even like. Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace handily out-performed Tarot despite playing in less than half the number of domestic theaters, which isn’t something that Sony would be pleased about. To make matters worse, the film’s overseas performance was just as underwhelming.
With $6.5 million domestically and another $3.7 million from international territories, Tarot’s cumulative global gross after one weekend of release stands at $10.2 million. While this was good enough for the film to recover its reported production budget of $8 million, the overall picture for the horror genre is looking especially bleak this year. While mainstream horror films have always attracted relatively poor reviews, this rarely seemed to impact the audience’s interest in watching them. But this year, several scary movies in a row have failed to live up to expectations.
Tarot follows a group of friends who rent out a mansion and witness terrifying events after messing around with dark magic. Reviews have been toxic, for the most part. Tarot sits at a “rotten” 12% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, which is low even for a horror title. The audience approval rating isn’t much better, at 58%. The film earned a C- CinemaScore from opening day audiences, which is standard for the horror genre. In her review, Collider’s Emma Kiely highlighted the “clown scene,” but added that the film suffers from a basic plot and poor character work, making it an “unmemorable experience.”
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Tarot’s $6.5 million debut is only marginally higher than the $5.3 million that Neon’s Immaculate opened to some weeks ago. Despite Sydney Sweeney’s star power, the movie has essentially concluded its run with around $15 million domestically and $22 million worldwide, which feels like a realistic target for Tarot as well. Recent weeks have also seen similar horror misfires such as The First Omen ($50 million worldwide against a reported budget of $30 million), and more recently, Abigail ($34 million worldwide against a reported budget of $28 million). What’s more surprising is that The First Omen under-performed despite built-in franchise recognition, and Abigail couldn’t live up to the streak of success that directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett had been on just 12 months ago. Both movies also earned solid reviews.
The industry hasn’t had a major horror hit since last year’sFive Nights at Freddy’s — an anomaly if there ever was one, considering it was also released day-and-date on the Peacock streaming service. Starring Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika Vandanapu, Wolfgang Novogratz, Humberly González, Larsen Thompson, Jacob Batalon, and Olwen Fouéré, Tarot is playing in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Tarot (2024)
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death.
- Release Date
- May 3, 2024
- Director
- Spenser Cohen , Anna Halberg
- Cast
- Avantika , Jacob Batalon , Harriet Slater , Adain Bradley , Humberly González , Olwen Fouéré , Larsen Thompson , Wolfgang Novogratz
