New Horror Movie With 21% RT Score Nearly Triples Budget At The Box Office In Just 10 Days

Summary Tarot has grossed a cumulative $20 million worldwide in its second weekend.

This has more than tripled the horror movie's $8 million budget.

Despite a 21% Rotten Tomatoes score, Tarot is likely already turning a profit.

Tarot has accomplished a huge box office feat despite a cavalcade of negative reviews. The new horror movie, which stars Harriet Slater, Avantika, and Jacob Batalon, is based on the 1992 Nicholas Adams novel Horrorscope and follows a group of college students who play with a cursed deck of tarot cards that dooms them to die in twisted ways based on the cards that were pulled in their readings. The movie has earned a thoroughly Rotten 21% score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, a number that is based on 43 different critics' reviews.

Per Variety, the Tarot release is projected to earn an additional $3.4 million at the domestic box office by the end of its second weekend in theaters. Combined with its second-weekend international grosses, this will bring its cumulative global box office total to $20 million. Considering the fact that the movie only cost $8 million to make, this nearly triples the horror title's production budget in just 10 days.

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Why Are Tarot’s Reviews So Bad?

Critics Call Out Tarot For Its Lazy Storytelling

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Despite the box office milestone, Tarot’s poor reviews tell a starkly different story. With a 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, Tarot can easily be considered a critical flop. Though audiences are seeing the movie, their perception has not been fantastic either, giving the film only a 57% approval rating.

Critics are knocking Tarot for its weak characters, who lack personality and connection in the horror film. As Matthew Jackson of The AV Club wrote, Tarot “ends up feeling flimsy, empty, and again, very, very frustrating.” Others called the storytelling weak and found it to be a lazy genre film that lacked depth and cultural value. While there were a couple critics who liked Tarot, those were few and far between against the highly-critical overall reception.

Is Tarot A Box Office Hit?

The Horror Movie May Have Hit Its Break-Even Point

At the time of writing, Tarot is the sixth highest-grossing English-language horror movie of the year worldwide.

Because theaters keep half of ticket sales, a movie's break-even point is usually at least twice its production budget. Despite those negative Tarot reviews, the movie has already surpassed $16 million at the box office, which was most likely its break-even point. In fact, at the time of writing, it is the sixth highest-grossing English-language horror movie of the year worldwide. Below, see how the movie's budget and box office compares to the current Top 5 English-language horror titles of 2024 so far:

Rank Title Budget Est. Break-Even Point Worldwide Box Office Difference #17 Night Swim $15 million $30 million $54 million + $24 million #18 The First Omen $30 million $60 million $52.5 million - $7.5 million #20 Imaginary $10-13 million $20-26 million $39.1 million + ~$13 million #21 Abigail $28 million $56 million $35.9 million - $20.1 million #31 Immaculate $9 million $18 million $23.2 million + $5.2 million ~#38 Tarot $8 million $16 million $20 million + $4 million

One issue with the break-even point rule of thumb is the fact that it doesn't include marketing costs for the movies in question. This means that some of the titles with a positive balance may not have yet made their money back, depending on how much was spent promoting them. However, Tarot came with quite low marketing costs, as there wasn't a huge promotional push for the title, with horror-hungry audiences seeming to have found the movie relatively organically.

While it seems unlikely that the movie has yet earned a significant profit, it may already be in the black. If it can push this gross even higher in the coming weeks, it's possible that it will be considered a proper box office hit and that a sequel will be greenlit before long. The Tarot ending is not necessarily open-ended, but it does leave room for more stories to be told at different points in the timeline of the movie's universe, whether or not the stars who played the surviving characters return to the project.

Will Tarot Help 2024 Horror Turn Around?

2024 Horror Has Had A Rough Start

As evidenced in the top five horror films of 2024 so far, the year has been off to a rocky start with horror. As per the estimated budgets, two out of the top five highest grossing horror movies of 2024 have actually lost money rather than gained money. Abigail, for instance, which has an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, has vastly underperformed expectations thus far. It was originally predicted to open to $12–$15 million and top the box office during its opening weekend. Instead, it brought home $10.2 million and lost out to A24’s Civil War.

Tarot may just be a note of hope in a depressing start for the year in horror. If Tarot continues on its current box office path, it will easily clear the marker needed to profit. Tarot is also only $3.2 million behind the box office gross for Immaculate, so it also has a shot at making it into the top 5 grossing horror films of the year so far. Hopefully, Tarot’s success can be the start of a turn around for the lukewarm 2024 horror box office thus far.

Source: Variety