Talk To Me Is This Weekend's Underdog Horror Hit, Scoring A $10 Million Debut
Update 07/30/2023: "Talk to Me" ended up surpassing Saturday's projections and grossing over $10 million in its debut, per Deadline. That's A24's second-biggest opening weekend ever, behind 2018's "Hereditary" ($13.6 million). Original article follows.
As the box office behemoth that is Barbenheimer crushes Disney's ill-timed release of "Haunted Mansion" beneath its wheels, it's easy to think that any movie would be foolish to go up against "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in their second weekend. But while "Haunted Mansion" is battling "Barbie" for family audiences with its PG-13 Disney theme park-based scares, another horror movie has found quiet success in its debut this weekend: "Talk to Me," the supernatural terrorfest from Australian directors Danny and Michael Philippou.
The film might not look like a success story at first glance. Per The Hollywood Reporter, "Talk to Me" will rank in sixth place at the box office in its opening weekend, with an estimated debut in the $9 million to $9.5 million range. But while "Haunted Mansion" landed third place with its projected opening weekend total of around $25 million, it's buckling under the weight of a $150 million production budget. "Talk to Me," by comparison, cost less than $4.5 million USD to produce, according to a Vulture interview with the Philippou brothers. When the international box office is counted, it's likely to break even in its opening weekend — an outstanding achievement for any movie, big or small.
"Talk to Me" has been buoyed by rave reviews, going into the weekend with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95% that was sure to catch the eye of hungry horror fans. Its sixth-place box office rank is more a reflection of how busy theaters are right now; alongside "Barbie," "Oppenheimer," and "Haunted Mansion," they're also playing hit action thriller "Sound of Freedom," and "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" is only on its third weekend. Last September saw "Barbarian" debut at No. 1 with a $10.5 million opening weekend, amid a dearth of competition. That "Talk to Me" is looking at a similar performance in a crowded mid-summer release slot, and without recognizable stars like Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long, is a real triumph.
You've got to hand it to them
"Talk to Me" first made waves when it premiered at Adelaide Film Festival last year, and after screening at Sundance in January 2023 it was picked up for distribution in the United States by A24. Though horror fans around the world have been plagued by release delays lately (A24's "Pearl" didn't make it to the United Kingdom until six whole months after its US release), "Talk to Me" has miraculously managed a simultaneous release in a number of countries this weekend, including here in the UK. Having caught a late night showing on Friday, I can personally vouch for this being a horror movie worth seeing before it leaves theaters.
The film stars Sophia Wilde as Mia, a teenager experiencing a fresh wave of grief on the anniversary of her mother's death, who ends up at a party where a dangerous game is being played. Ringleaders Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio) have come across a ceramic sculpture, supposedly containing the embalmed hand of a medium, which allows people to see the dead when they grasp the hand and say the words, "talk to me." Follow that up with the invite, "I let you in," and the spirit will take briefly possession of the person who offered the handshake, resulting in (as far as the teens are concerned) some really great content for Snapchat. What could go wrong?
Speaking to Vulture, the Philippou brothers said that the script for "Talk to Me" was initially shopped around Hollywood, but was rejected by almost every major studio. "We started getting these creative notes steering it into this stereotypical, boring direction," said Michael Philippou, recalling pressure from Hollywood studios to over-explain the mechanics of the haunted hand: "'Oh, we need to investigate this hand more.'"
Funding was ultimately acquired from a private investment firm, with further support from government agency Screen Australia, and it's safe to say that the bet has paid off.