Highlights
- Horror movies with lower budgets have proven to be extremely profitable, with films like Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project making millions worldwide.
- However, there are also horror movies with heftier budgets, such as Day Shift and Nope , that have confirmed the genre's ability to be lucrative without sacrificing cost.
- Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, horror movies like A Quiet Place Part II and Halloween Kills achieved significant box office success, demonstrating the enduring popularity of the genre.
Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of suicide or suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, please visit findahelpline.com to connect with resources in your country.
Horror movies have made a substantial impact in the film industry during the 2020s so far; this genre often involves films with lower budgets than the other genres.
Moreover, lower production costs yield higher profits. Low-budget horror movies like Paranormal Activity (with a budget of $15,000), The Blair Witch Project (with a budget of $60,000), and Night Of The Living Dead (with a budget of $114,000) have made millions worldwide.
While horror projects are more frequently produced with limited budgets, there are times when these projects have heftier budgets than other films. Providing spine-tingling scenes and keeping the audience hypervigilant, this genre has seen great gains at the box office and via streaming services.
With significant gains, these terrifyingly expensive productions have confirmed that horror can in fact be lucrative without sacrificing cost and limiting a budget. In some cases, large horror movie budgets have surpassed $100 million and still landed huge profits.
Learn more about the most expensive horror movie budgets of the 2020s – along with their frightening storylines.
1 Day Shift
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $100 Million |
Starring Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, and Meagan Good, Day Shift centers upon a diligent father named Bud (played by Jamie Foxx) who works a pool cleaning job while trying his best to provide a stable life for his daughter. However, the pool cleaning job is just a smokescreen for his more lucrative source of income as a vampire hunter.
Racing against time, Bud must quickly rake in $10,000 for his daughter’s tuition and braces, otherwise, his ex-wife (played by Meagan Good) would relocate their daughter to Florida. To get his hands on the cash, he intends to sell vampire fangs – which are considered prized possessions.
Released on Netflix, Day Shift certainly had one of the most expensive horror movie budgets of the 2020s. The production cost was $100 million and the film received a 57 percent approval rating on RottenTomatoes.com.
2 Nope
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $68 Million |
Total Box Office Gross | $172 Million |
Written and directed by Jordan Peele and starring Keke Palmer, Nope centers on a brother (named OJ) and a sister (named Emerald) who begin to notice mysterious occurrences on their ranch. Soon the siblings become obsessed with the happenings and go on a quest to catch the phenomena on video.
Along with their neighbors, the siblings' attempts at uncloaking the mystery leads them to horrifying outcomes. When it comes to expensive horror movie budgets, Nope rang up at $68 million and grossed $172 million.
3 A Quiet Place Part II
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $61 Million |
Budget For A Quiet Place | $17 Million |
After experiencing terrifying occurrences at home, the film's Abbott family must not only confront the frightening creatures who have supersonic hearing on the outside, but also must contend with other threats along their path ... while remaining as quiet as possible.
While the film's predecessor A Quiet Place came together on a budget of $17 million, the sequel had a bit more to work with on a budget of $61 million. Even though the movie’s release was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a hit at the box office.
4 The Nun 2
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $38 Million |
Budget For The Nun | $22 Million |
As the ninth installment of The Conjuring universe, The Nun 2 is a direct sequel to The Nun which (was released in 2018). In this sequel, Sister Irene (played by Taissa Farmiga) once again goes head-to-head at a French boarding school with Valak, a demonic being who takes the form of a nun.
Along with Sister Debra, Sister Irene heads to France after a series of killings throughout Europe, only to discover that Valak has also possessed Maurice’s body. While part one of The Nun had a cost of $22 million to produce, The Nun 2 had a larger budget of $38 million.
5 Candyman (2021)
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $25 Million |
Total Worldwide Box Office Gross | $77 Million |
Candyman is a "spiritual sequel" to an original movie of the same title that was released in 1992, based on a supernatural entity who would appear to characters after a ritual involving a mirror. Written by Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta, the 2021 version captured much of the magic of the original horror classic.
In this new twist on the Candyman premise, an artist makes the fateful decision to delve into the origins of the Candyman. Candyman (2021) had a budget of $25 million and grossed over $77 million worldwide.
6 Halloween Kills
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $20 Million |
Total Worldwide Box Office Gross | $255 Million |
Directed by David Gordon Green, this classic slasher sequel is the twelfth installment in the Halloween franchise. In it, returning villain Michael Myers found a way to break free from a trap set by protagonist Laurie Strode.
In Halloween Kills, Laurie's injuries from her previous brush with Michael had yet to heal. Both her daughter and granddaughter (along with the entire community of Haddonfield) are motivated to stage an all-out revolt against the killer – but Myers again will not retreat without a brutal fight.
As Michael's body count increases, Laurie is tasked with saving her own life, while trying to stop him once and for all. Halloween Kills had a budget of $20 million and grossed $255 million worldwide.
7 The Hunt
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $18 Million |
Total Worldwide Box Office Gross | $10 Million |
In The Hunt, group of elites assembles at a remote location in order to hunt down everyday Americans for sport and entertainment. As a result, twelve strangers wake up in the middle of nowhere with no knowledge of where they are or how they came to be there.
What they also don’t know is that they all were specifically chosen for a sinister purpose – to be hunted. The plan is foiled when Crystal (one of the characters being hunted) stages and uprising against the hunters – eliminating them one by one, in her search for the person who is behind the scenes.
The budget for The Hunt was $18 million, but it only had a gross of $10 million.
8 Smile
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $17 Million |
Total Worldwide Box Office Gross | $216 Million |
In Smile, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) is a therapist who witnesses an extraordinarily traumatic event; Rose was conducting a session with a distraught patient who claimed she was being haunted. Within a short period of time, the patient dies by suicide in front of Rose during a therapy session.
After the ordeal, Rose’s life fell into chaos and became filled with a number of chilling hallucinations involving unsettling smiles. Rose eventually comes to the realization that she is being haunted by a demonic entity that will not stop until she is possessed.
The cost to produce Smile was $17 million and the movie grossed $216 million. Smile 2 is scheduled to be released in October 2024.
9 The Black Phone
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $16 Million |
Total Worldwide Box Office Gross | $161 Million |
The Black Phone tells the story of a 13-year-old boy named Finney who is abducted by a sinister killer (played by Ethan Hawke). Known as "The Grabber," the film's killer locks Finney in a dark basement, where no one can hear his screams for help.
During the events of the film, Finney begins receiving calls from the killer’s previous victims on what appears to be a disconnected phone. The victims relay messages to him in an effort to make sure he doesn’t meet the same fate.
The Black Phone had a production budget of $16 million and grossed $161 million worldwide.
10 M3GAN
Total Production Budget (Estimated) | $12 Million |
Total Worldwide Box Office Gross | $95 Million |
Directed by Gerard Johnstone, the movie M3GAN centers around a doll named M3GAN that was designed using artificial intelligence (AI). When robotics engineer Gemma creates M3GAN to be a companion for her niece (who just lost her parents in a horrific car accident), she has no idea the doll is about to take on a life of its own.
What originally seemed an amazing new toy turned into a nightmare for those who crossed M3GAN’s path. The budget for this movie was $12 million, and it grossed over $95 million.
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