The Case Of Cobweb's Missing Box Office Numbers
One would be forgiven for not realizing it, but a horror movie starring Lizzy Caplan ("Masters of Sex," "Cloverfield") and Anthony Starr ("The Boys," "The Covenant") was released in theaters three weeks ago just as the Barbenheimer craze was getting underway. Sure, it would be easy to blame the wild success of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" for burying this movie but, quite frankly, it seems like Lionsgate, the studio behind the film, must shoulder some of that blame as well. Not only did the studio do very little to build any awareness for the film but, as it arrived on VOD over the weekend, the domestic box office grosses were never reported.
For people who don't follow this stuff regularly, it is truly rare for a theatrical release of any kind from a well-known studio to not have its box office numbers reported at all. Even movies that make very little will have those numbers reflected on sites like Box Office Mojo or The Numbers. "Cobweb," however, only has its international ticket sales reflected on publicly available databases. Box Office Mojo has the film's overseas total at $2.38 million, with its biggest market being France, where it made just over $1 million.
But what of the domestic numbers? No dice. The film is part of Lionsgate's annual slate of specialty titles — around 50 per year — which are released on multiple platforms. Even so, day-and-date releases often have their box office numbers reported. Lionsgate does not plan to do so for this title.
Next to no promotion
/Film first reported on the movie back in September of 2020, at which time it was revealed that a murderer's row of big names such as Roy Lee, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg were on board as producers. Wouldn't a studio like Lionsgate want to boast about a movie with such heavy hitters attached to it? One might think! Especially since horror has generally been crushing at the box office in the post-pandemic landscape.
Here we are, as the movie is now available on VOD with hardly a peep about it, and no real proof that anyone actually purchased a ticket to see this thing anywhere in North America. "Cobweb" is billed as a "specialty release" on Lionsgate's publicity website, so it was never meant to open wide in hundreds of theaters. But that certainly doesn't mean the studio should seemingly pretend it doesn't exist either. Especially because this feels like a very marketable movie.
Serving as the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Samuel Bodin, the film centers on an eight-year-old boy named Peter who is plagued by a mysterious, constant tapping inside his bedroom wall — a tapping that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter's fear intensifies, he believes that his parents (Caplan and Starr) could be hiding a terrible secret.
It's not as though nobody likes the movie. It currently holds a 62% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes along with a 73% audience score. /Film's own William Bibbiani called it one of the year's best horror movies. Despite that, so far as I can tell, promotion for the film by Lionsgate has been minimal, with just a few posts from the Lionsgate Horror social media accounts hyping up the release.
A confounding strategy (or lack thereof)
This would all make more sense if the movie in question were a dud. Rather, we have a movie people seem to like with A-listers both in front of and behind the camera. What gives? It may be that this movie was given the green light with less ambitious prospects in mind, but seemingly nothing would prevent a pivot in strategy. Just look at what Paramount did with "Smile" last year. The movie was originally supposed to go directly to Paramount+. Instead, it remains one of the highest-grossing original movies since the pandemic began with a sequel on the way.
August doesn't have many big movies. Maybe Lionsgate would have fared better with it this month in theaters. Or perhaps it would have been better suited as a fall release closer to Halloween. The only good news is that "Cobweb" is scheduled to hit theaters in quite a few markets around the world throughout August and September, which could help to shine a light on it and goose its financial prospects. Still, it feels like a good movie in a bankable genre with A-listers across the board got unnecessarily buried here, and that's a shame.
"Cobweb" is available on VOD now with the Blu-ray and DVD release scheduled for September 12, 2023. You can check out the box art below.
