Insidious: The Red Door has hit big at the box office, making double its budget over opening weekend. According to Variety, the horror sequel, which reportedly cost around $16 million to produce, beat estimations by pulling in $32.6 million across its first three days in North American theaters.
The new film, which marks the first installment in the Insidious series, beat out Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, too, as the latter's attendance dropped 56% from its $60 million opening weekend. The Harrison Ford-led follow-up made $26.5 million, and in comparison, cost $300 million to make. So far, the Disney outing is said to have racked up $247.9 in ticket sales worldwide.
Insidious: The Red Door also fared well at the international box office with $31.4 million, ranking as the biggest overseas opening for a horror movie since early 2020.
Set nine years after the events of Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious 5 sees Josh (Patrick Wilson, who also directed the flick) and his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) attempt to reconnect with their past – and each other – when they find themselves plagued by terrifying visions. As viewers, we know it's the twosome's connection to The Further, an alternate dimension filled with malevolent spirits, that is being reawakened, but given the hypnosis they underwent at the end of Chapter 2, things aren't so immediately obvious to the haunted pair.
"I knew I would want to unpack the second movie and make it sort of like, 'Boyhood in the horror world'," Wilson previously told GamesRadar+. "I wanted to go back and explore what happens to a family after that, to a relationship, to a marriage.
"I also wanted to explore the relationship of a father and son, even though I don't have that kind of relationship with my sons, I have two boys," the first-time director added. "So, I picked things that I wanted to dig into and that I knew I was passionate about, and so then you feel more confident."
Insidious: The Red Door is in cinemas now. For more on the film, check out our interviews with Lin Shaye, and Ty Simpkins and Sinclair Daniel.
Happy Death Day director says he once wrote a movie based on "a very big" horror franchise, but a studio rejected it because it had a gay lead
Paranormal Activity series writer jokes about how writing follow-ups to the hit found-footage horror "was a thankless task" because of the illusion that the movies are real: "'Oh, it’s so easy! You improvise!'"
