Blumhouse's Imaginary Friend Horror Film Hopes To Scare Up A Big Audience
Blumhouse is the premiere destination for horror in Hollywood. From homegrown franchises such as "The Purge" to reviving classics like "Halloween," they hit it out of the park time and time again, with few misses in between. Because they also tend to keep budgets low, even their misses tend not to be disastrous. That brings us to "Imaginary," the latest Blumhouse horror film that is undoubtedly aiming to become their next franchise. It is not to be confused with "IF," the family-friendly imaginary friends movie starring Ryan Reynolds. So, can this scary teddy bear flick deliver the goods at the box office? Or will this be a more middling result?
Though Universal almost always distributes Blumhouse's theatrical features, Lionsgate is handling this one, which hails from director Jeff Wadlow ("Truth or Dare"). It, at present, appears to have a solid chance at becoming another winner for the studio when it opens next weekend, with the film expected to pull in anywhere between $8 and $15 million, per Box Office Pro. That's admittedly a pretty wide range and a variety of factors could influence which side of the line it falls closer to. From reviews to word of mouth and, more importantly, how well the competition performs, it's all going to have an impact. That said, even on the low end, that would probably be enough to call this a modest win for a movie with a $13 million production budget.
"Imaginary" will be opening directly against Universal's "Kung Fu Panda 4," with the animated sequel looking to pull in at least $30 million, if not much more. "Dune: Part Two" will also be in its second weekend so, in all likelihood, Wadlow's latest will probably have to settle for third place here. But that's not a bad thing, as horror can often work very well when used as counterprogramming against other studio films.
Can Lionsgate get a win with Imaginary?
"Imaginary" centers on Jessica (DeWanda Wise), who moves back into her childhood home with her family. Once there, her young stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun) develops a strange attachment to a stuffed bear named Chauncey. Alice begins to play games with Chauncey, which quickly leads to a sinister place. Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Veronica Falcon, and Betty Buckley also star.
As a studio, Lionsgate excels when it is working in the low-to-mid-budget realm, so this is right in its wheelhouse. Given the $13 million budget, even if this movie only makes comparable money to Blumhouse's "Night Swim" ($51 million worldwide), it should be just fine. Once VOD and other revenue streams are factored in, it would still be a winner. That wouldn't make it the next "M3GAN" (the killer babysitting robot film pulled in $181 million last year and paved the way for next year's "M3GAN 2.0"), but they can't all be record-breakers. Sometimes, a modest hit gets the job done.
Benefiting this movie's case is the fact that no other outright studio horror movies are coming down the pipeline for several weeks. Director Michael Mohan's "Immaculate," starring Sydney Sweeney, is the next one up to bat, and that doesn't arrive until March 22. So, for horror fans, this scary bear named Chauncey will effectively be the only game in town for a few weeks.
"Imaginary" hits theaters on March 8, 2024.