New to The Quorum: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

Next February, the 9th film in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE franchise arrives by way of Netflix. This time around, the “The” is dropped from the title, much like SUICIDE SQUAD did earlier this year.

The arrival of a new CHAINSAW raises a few questions: 

1. How popular is this series? Combined, the eight previous films have grossed $200M at the domestic box office ($422M when adjusted for inflation). The original 1974 film was the most successful, grossing $173M (adjusted), followed by the 2003 update, which shared the exact same title as the original. That film grossed $121M (adjusted). Despite its place in the cultural horror canon, this series is not one of the top earners. The two most recent IT titles alone have made more.
2. Why are all these legacy horror films coming back? With the success of IT and HALLOWEEN, it may seem like the hits from the ’70s and ’80s are returning in greater numbers, but the truth is, they never went away. There have been (appropriately enough) 13 FRIDAY THE 13TH films, 12 HALLOWEEN movies, and nine NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET films, to name a few. It’s just, recently, they have been better movies, and they’ve made more at the box office. 
3. Do legacy titles make more than other horror films at the box office? Yes. Since 2016, the median gross for a legacy horror film has been $43M versus $27M for non-legacy. The top three earners for each group are below. 

Of course, none of this matters since the upcoming CHAINSAW is currently slated to open on Netflix, meaning there won’t be box office data to speak of. Still, that won’t stop us from tracking it. So, to the latest TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, we say welcome to The Quorum.