AMC Networks: Streaming Horror to the Non-Profiting Mass Streamer, and to the Gore Movies Paradigm
Shudder contributes to the widening and deepened of horror. AMC Networks, which operates the service, grew from a basic genre library to a huge collection that includes both original feature films and TV shows. Shudder is not close to the major streamers. This niche-ness has allowed it to build an identity that other companies have failed to do: build an identity beyond simply being ‘Hey, we got stuff’.
The period began with Jordan Peele’s Get Out, and ended with a new generation of viewers watching horror films. He says that the seminal moment was Get Out. The people were able to rediscover horror as a lot more than just a show of violence.
Clicking around a giant stream can leave one feeling either lose or lost and sometimes it even results in submission by the system. Shudder, because it’s home to a self-selecting group of horror buffs, organically leads people to their genuine interests. Unlike superhero lovers, who have to go to Disney+ for Marvel movies and HBO Max for DC content and have few options beyond that, gore groupies have one service sure to have something they like, perhaps even something they’ve never heard of.
Is that enough to keep a streaming service going? Engler answers with a different question. What do you think is the audience for Shudder? Well, how many people have bought a Stephen King book?” Shudder says AMC has a combined 10.8 million subscribers on its target platforms, but is cagey on hard numbers.
Shudder has also found success by picking up international titles like Taiwan’s The Sadness and Indonesia’s Satan’s Slaves and spotting smart ideas that bigger studios might not take a chance on. The company nabbed 2020’s Host, a perfectly lean flick about a freaky Zoom seance, after director Rob Savage posted a playful sample of the concept on Twitter. Mad God was a passion project of Phil Tippett who had been working on it for 30 years. “Most people are not saying, ‘Oh, I really wanna see a stop-motion animated fever dream,’” Engler says. Shudder believes that Mad God has a chance of being its first Oscar nomination.
In the second weekend of the film, ticket sales dipped only18.8%, but it made the same amount of money as the first. That is almost unheard of for a major film. For example, “Thor: Love and Thunder” dropped nearly 70% in its second weekend in July.
The film, which stars SosieBacon as a psychiatrist, opened to $22.6 million at the domestic box office in late September. That total is not so remarkable on paper, but it was enough to take the top spot its opening weekend and exceeded the film’s modest $17 million production budget.
“The old model of sub-par, money grabbing scare fests aimed at a kill it on Friday and drop huge on Saturday is mostly a thing of the past as the new creative custodians of the genre are more focused on a solid overall experience for the viewer,” he said. “The box office results have been scary impressive.”
Box Office Smiles: The Horror Story of the Superbowl and the Dark Side of the Universe (and the Horror Movies Movies Archive)
“We had people creepily smile at a morning show, a bunch of baseball games and it took off better than we had hoped,” Weinstock said. “Even if you weren’t a fan of baseball, it went viral on social media.”
Many horror films this year have done the same, showing that — aside from superhero movies — horror is Hollywood’s most dependable genre at the box office.
The film industry is still recovering from the swine flu. North America’s box office is down 34% from the previous year, because audiences have been sporadic. It is a spooky time for Hollywood.
Yet horror continues to be seemingly immune to the streaming revolution. The films of 20th Century Studios and Universal are examples of low cost horror films that pull in audiences.
Even “Terrifier 2,” a slasher film about a murderous clown that has reportedly caused viewers to vomit and faint in theaters, is finding an audience. The film made over $7 million worldwide and it had a reported budget of just $250,000.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/media/horror-movies-box-office-smile-halloween/index.html
What happens when you meet strangers in a room and they all share the same experience?” Weinstock said in an interview with the New York Times
“Where else can you be with hundreds of strangers in a room all having the same exact experience?” Weinstock said. “You’re not distracted, you’re just sitting there and you have no idea what’s going to happen next. I think that’s something you can only experience in a theater.”