‘M3gan’ box office success sets the stage for a scary good year in horror

A lifelike doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally turns murderous in Universal Studios and Blumhouse’s “M3GAN.”

Universal

A fashion-forward, murderous doll is ringing up big bucks at the box office.

“M3gan,” the newest release from the Universal Studios and Blumhouse collaboration, will end up with more than $100 million globally. It’s the latest success in a string of lucrative theatrical runs for the horror genre.

While Hollywood’s big-budget blockbusters typically get the most attention, the consistently strong performance of scary movies at movie theaters is good news for the cinema industry.

The pandemic fundamentally altered how and where consumers view entertainment. To be sure, people have returned to theaters, but not in the same volume as pre-pandemic times. Additionally, fewer theatrical releases have resulted in a smaller overall box office in the last year. The domestic box office reached $7.5 billion in 2022, better than $4.58 billion collected in 2021, but down around 34% compared to 2019.

Films like “M3gan” collectively add incremental value to the box office. In 2022, the horror genre accounted for around $700 million in domestic ticket sales, according to data from Comscore. While that figure is down compared to pre-pandemic levels, it indicates persistent demand for spooky entertainment as the theater business rebounds.

Horrifying but good

Paramount and Universal were the top contributors of horror content last year. Paramount’s “Smile” sold $105 million in tickets domestically and $217 million globally. Its newest installment in the Scream franchise took in $81 million in the U.S. and Canada and $137 million worldwide.

Universal’s “Nope” generated $123 million domestically and $171 million globally, while “The Black Phone” scored $90 million stateside and $160 million worldwide. The studio also released “Halloween Ends,” leading to $64 million in domestic ticket sales and $104 million globally, even though it hit streaming service Peacock the same day.

Ethan Hawke stars in Blumhouse and Universal’s “The Black Phone.”

Universal

Additionally, Disney‘s Searchlight Pictures released “The Menu,” which snared $38 million domestically and $70 million worldwide.

Notably, Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which features horror elements, was not included in the tally. The film generated $411 million during its run in the U.S. and Canada and nearly $1 billion worldwide.

“We’re in the middle of horror’s new golden age,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “It’s a genre that has ebbed and flowed in past decades but one that’s always evolved, maintained commercial appeal, and helped introduce new filmmakers to the world.”

Here are several titles to expect from the horror genre in 2023:

Universal’s “Knock at the Cabin” — Feb. 3
Paramount’s “Scream VI” — March 10
Sony’s “Insidious: Chapter 5” — July 7
Warner Bros.’ “The Nun 2” — Sept. 8
Neon’s “Cuckoo” — Sept. 29
Universal’s “The Exorcist” — Oct. 13
Lionsgate’s “Saw X” — Oct. 27

Scaring up dollars

Blumhouse, a producer of “M3gan,” has revolutionized the horror genre in the last decade, turning small budget flicks into huge box-office returns. The studio has been responsible for the profitable and popular “Paranormal Activity” films as well as the Academy Award-winning “Get Out.”

“Paranormal Activity,” which was released in 2009, had a budget of just $15,000 and went on to make more than $107 million in the U.S. and nearly $200 million worldwide

Following that model, “M3gan” was made for just $12 million and is on its way past $100 million. Already, Universal and Blumhouse have greenlighted a sequel due out in 2025.

Still from Universal and Blumhouse’s “M3GAN.”

Universal

Last year, most wide-released horror films had a budget of between $16 million and $35 million. The only outlier was “Get Out” director Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” which carried a $68 million production budget. Films with smaller budgets mean don’t have to generate blockbuster-size ticket sales in order to turn a profit. Those economics also help to make horror films one of the most consistently well-performing genre of all time.

For example, consider “Skinamarink,” an experimental horror film out of Canada, which cost $15,000 to make and has gone on to generate more than $1 million at the box office.

“At the heart of its sustainability has been a generational turnover of young audiences that drive many of these movies at the box office, a pre-pandemic constant that’s picked up right where it left off as post-pandemic moviegoing has rebounded,” Robbins said.

Unlike fans of comic book films, who can be easily turned off by an unfaithful adaptation of their favorite character, horror fans don’t seem to mind if the film isn’t totally up to par. So long as the movie had some good scares and was seen as a fun experience, they’ll be back for the next installment.

Additionally, in the last two decades, the quality of the horror genre has greatly improved, due in large part to support from indie companies such as A24 and Neon, as well as distribution from streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Peacock.

“A systematic, incremental increase in the quality of horror films, a genre that was once considered the smash and grab, take the money and run, open on Friday, close on Sunday genre, has now, with the creative vision of amazing production companies and brilliant filmmakers, earned respect of critics and audiences alike,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst, at Comscore.

“M3gan,” for example, currently holds a 95% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The genre and its audience are invaluable to the industry ecosphere, and 2023’s promising release slate looks to help maintain that status quo,” Robbins said.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal has a partnership with Blumhouse and owns Rotten Tomatoes.

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The “Orient Express” has been called the “king of trains” and the “train of kings.”

Royalty, writers, actors and spies have ridden the original route between Paris and Istanbul, which started in the late 19th century.

Author Agatha Christie described the Orient Express as “the train of my dreams.” She set a bestselling murder mystery novel on its carriages, and fictional spy James Bond rode it in the movie “From Russia With Love.”

Travelers might think of the Orient Express as a single luxurious train, but there have in fact been quite a few over the years, with many routes and owners.

Soon, people will be able to choose to take a ride on several trains using the Orient Express moniker, by two competing companies, the LVMH-owned luxury travel company Belmond and the French hospitality multinational Accor.

Both have original carriages which date to the late 1800s. But they differ in how they’re designed, where they travel and how long they’ve been in operation — one for decades and the other set to launch in 2024.

History behind the ‘Orient Express’

The original train was conceived by a young Belgian engineer named Georges Nagelmackers, who was inspired by the Pullman sleeper trains he rode during a trip to the United States in 1868.

Nagelmackers wanted to build something similar — but more luxurious — for upmarket passengers in Europe. In 1883, the “Train Express d’Orient” made its first journey out of the Gare de Strasbourg in Paris (now the Gare de l’Est) to Vienna.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express will launch eight new suites in June 2023.

Belmond

A few years later, the train was renamed the Orient Express and began traveling to Istanbul, then known as Constantinople. Travelers flocked to the train’s modern technology and luxurious silver cutlery and silk sheets.

Soon, Nagelmackers’ firm started to build more upscale trains for other European routes, including one that ran through the then-new Simplon Tunnel, which connects Switzerland to Italy, as well as the “Arlberg-Orient-Express,” operating between Calais, France, and Budapest, Hungary.

By the 1970s, the original Orient Express trains had made their last journeys, and the carriages fell into disrepair.

But in the 1980s, two businessmen undertook separate endeavors to revive them.

James Sherwood, an American, spent a reported $31 million acquiring and restoring enough carriages to form the “Venice Simplon-Orient-Express,” now owned by Belmond. (To add to the confusion, Sherwood also added hotels to his travel group, calling them Orient-Express Hotels. He renamed the company to Belmond in 2014.)

Swiss tour operator Albert Glatt began a service between Zurich and Istanbul, known as the “Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express,” which is now owned by Accor.

The ‘Venice Simplon-Orient-Express’

The “Venice Simplon-Orient-Express” has been operating since 1982. The train is made of original restored carriages that Gary Franklin, vice president of Belmond’s trains and cruises, called “works of art.”

“This train comes imbued with so much history,” he said. “The carriages are beautiful.”

As for Accor’s plans to launch a train also called the Orient Express,” Franklin said, “We’re the ones that have been doing it for 40 years, and I think we take it as a huge compliment that people are … seeing how well we’re doing with that.”

A one-night trip on the “Venice Simplon-Orient-Express” starts from £2,920 ($3,292) per person.

Belmond

Belmond has a one-off licensing deal to use the Orient Express name on its Venice Simplon train, Franklin confirmed, while Accor has the rights to the brand as a whole.

The “Venice Simplon-Orient-Express” will operate winter journeys for the first time this December, visiting Paris, Venice, Vienna and Florence, encouraging guests to visit the Christmas markets in those cities.

And next June, new suites are opening on the train, which come with private bathrooms, a steward, kimonos and slippers.

A one-night journey will cost from £5,500 ($6,135) per person in the new suites, which are one step below the train’s most luxurious category — the Grand Suites — which come with private dining, heated floors and “free-flowing” champagne, according to the website.

A suite on the “Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.”

Belmond

Tickets for around half of the new suites have already been bought, and Grand Suites (about $9,600 per night) are almost sold out, Franklin said.

The ‘Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express’

A few years after Glatt put his train back on the rails, it was again left derelict.

Fast forward to 2015 and French rail company SNCF — which then owned the rights to the Orient Express name — commissioned researcher Arthur Mettetal to find the train.

“We had a beautiful brand, but no cars,” Guillaume de Saint Lager, now vice president of Orient Express at Accor, told CNBC. “We knew there was this complete train, but we didn’t know where it was.”

Using Google Maps and Google 3D, Mettetal located 17 of the original cars on the Poland-Belarus border.

Carriages from the “Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express,” found derelict on the Poland-Belarus border, are being restored by the French hotel group Accor.

Maxime d’Angeac | Martin Darzacq | Accor

The bar car on the “Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express” will feature a bar with a glass counter, a tribute to French designer Rene Lalique.

Maxime d’Angeac | Martin Darzacq | Accor

Much of the interior — including original marquetry, or decorated wood — was intact, said de Saint Lager.

A detailed restoration is now underway, with architect Maxime d’Angeac hired to design the interiors. His brief was to “have a kind of fantasy of what could be Art Deco,” d’Angeac told CNBC by phone. He said he had a significant collection of the train’s original drawings and models.

Original glass Lalique lamps, in the shape of a flower, will light the train’s corridors, while other original elements from the rediscovered train will also be incorporated, such as suitcase racks and door handles.

A corridor on the “Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express” features original glass Lalique flower lamps.

Maxime d’Angeac | Martin Darzacq | Accor

The bar car will feature call buttons for champagne and service, while the dining car will have a mirrored ceiling as well as a glass wall to the kitchen, so guests can see the chef.

Sleeping suites will feature leather walls, embroidered headboards and en suite marble bathrooms. De Saint Lager described it as a “cruise train,” where guests can alight at lesser-known places (routes and prices are yet to be announced).

Passengers will soon be able to stay at “Orient Express” hotels, too, the first of which will launch in Rome in 2024, according to Accor’s website.

The Orient Express ‘La Dolce Vita’

Accor has more plans to use the Orient Express name. It’s also developing six “La Dolce Vita” trains that will run through 14 regions in Italy as well as neighboring countries, with aims to have 10 Orient Express hotels by 2030.

A rendering of the “Orient Express La Dolce Vita,” which will connect Rome to cities like Paris, Istanbul and Split.

Dimorestudio | Accor

These trains will pay tribute to an era different from the Venice Simplon or the Nostalgie-Istanbul trains.

“La Dolce Vita” — which translates as “the sweet life” — refers to Federico Fellini’s 1960 movie, as well as to a sense of Italian glamour and pleasure. The trains are designed to embody “the Italian art of living and all its beautiful traditions,” according to an online post by interiors company Dimorestudio, which is working on the project.

The trains will have 18 suites, 12 deluxe cabins and an “honour suite.” Most will leave from Rome’s Termini station, where passengers will have access to a lounge before departure, and will travel around 16,000 kilometers (about 10,000 miles) of railway lines, with stops at lesser-known Italian destinations.

A rendering of a bedroom suite on the “Orient Express La Dolce Vita,” showing the train’s 1960s-style decor.

Dimorestudio | Accor

Along with the Orient Express La Minerva Hotel in Rome, Accor will also open the Orient Express Venice Hotel in 2024 in a restored palace. In addition, Accor has plans to launch an Orient Express hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Those trains are also set to be launched in 2024, according to a company representative.

— CNBC’s Monica Pitrelli contributed to this report.

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Tag: entertainment