Barbie and Oppenheimer may have taken the lion’s share of attention this summer, but Talk to Me has quietly become a huge hit. So much so that the small-budget film from directors Danny and Michael Philippou now ranks as A24’s biggest horror movie ever at the domestic box office. Even more impressive? It was Ari Aster’s much-beloved Hereditary that the Phlippou brothers had to overtake to claim the crown. No small thing.
Thanks to another healthy weekend over the Labor Day holiday, Talk to Me has now earned $44.5 million domestically, according to The Numbers. That’s just enough to put it past 2018’s Hereditary, which pulled in $44 million during its theatrical run a handful of years ago. Now, it’s important to point out that this is specifically the North American box office. Globally, the picture is a little different, as Hereditary pulled in a grand total of $81.2 million, whereas Talk to Me currently sits at $59.5 million. So it still has a way to go to claim A24’s overall horror record.
Be that as it may, what this movie has done is truly impressive. It was released at the height of the summer moviegoing season amidst crazy competition from much larger blockbusters. It’s a film from first-time feature directors that was produced for just $4.5 million. To that point, Hereditary had a larger, $10 million budget. So A24 stands to actually make more money, in the end, from this movie. This despite the fact that nothing about it, on paper, guaranteed success. But audiences found the acclaimed film in and amongst bigger blockbusters like Meg 2: The Trench and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to become a welcome success story.
A24, the studio behind other horror hits such as Midsommar and The Witch, is not wasting any time in capitalizing on the success. A sequel, titled Talk 2 Me, has already been announced, with the Philippou brothers returning to direct. Best believe that when the ongoing Hollywood strikes conclude, this will become a top priority for the studio. For those who perhaps haven’t seen the film yet, the official synopsis reads as follows:
“When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.”
Talk to Me is in theaters now.
