2024 Horror Movie With 81% RT Score Crosses Global Box Office Milestone After Initial Struggle

Summary

• The First Omen
  crosses $50 million box office mark with positive reviews, but still falls short of other films in the horror franchise.
• The First Omen
  has received positive reviews, getting an 81% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
• To reach profitability,
  The First Omen
  needs to double its budget with $60 million box office total, with increasingly slim chances of reaching that goal.

The First Omen manages to get past a major box office milestone despite a tough start. The First Omen is a prequel to the classic 1970s horror film The Omen. Its plot focuses on the story of a young woman named Margaret who is sent off to a convent in Rome to begin a pious lifestyle, only to discover a darkness in the church that leads her to uncover a terrifying conspiracy and question her faith.

Per Collider, The First Omen has now crossed a major box office milestone. The First Omen has now made it past the $50 million mark at the global box office. Its total is comprised of just over $31 million overseas and around $19 million at the domestic box office.

The First Omen’s Lackluster Box Office Explained

The First Omen Faces Competition

Made on an estimated $30 million budget, the horror film saw a slow start as it opened to a lackluster $8.5 million in theaters. This fate was particularly disappointing, seeing as The First Omen received positive reviews. The First Omen scored an 81% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes and a 69% approval rating among viewers. Both of these scores made The First Omen the second-highest reviewed film in the horror franchise, losing out only to the original 1976 The Omen.

The First Omen’s box office may have been hurt by the release of Immaculate a few weeks prior. Also focusing on darkness that overtakes an Italian convent when an American woman arrives there, Immaculate had a lot of overlapping themes with The First Omen. Because Immaculate came out first, it may have overshadowed The First Omen, and felt derivative to viewers given the similar content. Immaculate’s performance in theaters has still been slow, however, as its worldwide box office total is only $21.9 million at the time of writing.

Even with its new box office milestone, The First Omen still pales in comparison to other films in the series. The 2006 remake of The Omen, which was received poorly by critics and viewers, still made $119.9 million worldwide. This total is more than double what The First Omen has made to date.

As The First Omen finishes out its theatrical run, its chances of fully making back its budget are getting slimmer. Typically, a film needs to have a worldwide gross of around double its budget in order to be considered profitable. For The First Omen, this would situate its box office goal at roughly $60 million. While adding $10 million is possible, those chances would hinge on The First Omen maintaining significant momentum as it approaches its one-month-in-theater release marker.

Source: Collider