Blumhouse is bringing back the iconic Halloween franchise, and it didn't cost much for them to produce it. The original film, released in 1978, is considered by many to be a landmark offering in the horror genre. Introducing viewers to the terror that is Michael Myers, it revolutionized slasher films and grossed $47 million domestically against a minuscule $325,000 budget. Due to its success, Halloween spawned a sprawling series of followups and continues to resonate in pop culture 40 years later.
For the 2018 installment, director David Gordon Green opted to scrap the admittedly confusing continuity established by earlier entries and have this latest film act as a direct sequel to the first film. Once again, Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode does battle against Myers, and there's hope Halloween can launch a new series. Blumhouse and Universal certainly have put it in position to succeed, seeing that they kept expenses down.
Related: Jamie Lee Curtis Responds To Halloween Gun Rights Controversy
The budget for Halloween comes in at $10 million. Due to inflation, it wouldn't be fair to compare that figure to its '70s and '80s predecessors, but it's worth mentioning that Green's film was actually cheaper to make than Rob Zombie's Halloween movies from 2007 and 2009. Both of Zombie's efforts sported a $15 million price tag.
This is on-brand for Blumhouse, a production company that specializes in micro-budget horror. For example, Jordan Peele's Oscar-winning Get Out cost only $4.5 million, and M. Night Shyamalan's Split had a budget of $9 million. Jason Blum has perfected this model over the years, and it's yielded extremely positive results. To date, Blumhouse's films collectively have grossed more than $1.8 billion - a number that will certainly increase exponentially once Halloween opens in theaters. Blumhouse's strategy also ensures their projects turn a profit. Going by the general rule of thumb, Halloween would need to make $20 million worldwide in order to break even, and it's going to soar past that in its opening weekend. Some analysts are projecting a debut as high as $70 million domestically.
That combination means it's a virtual lock Blumhouse moves forward with their planned Halloween sequel, which they would like to have ready for a 2019 premiere. The fact Halloween is getting positive reviews praising it as a return to form for the woebegone franchise is just icing on the cake. Horror films, since they're so inexpensive, are largely critic-proof and can become financially successful. Blumhouse's own Truth or Dare was ravaged by pundits, but still earned $94.8 million against a $3.5 million budget. If anything, Halloween's reception means it should become one of the studio's biggest hits of all-time.
More: Read Screen Rant's Halloween 2018 Review
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