20 Awesome Recent Horror Movies That Flopped At The Box Office

16. The First Omen

Religious-themed horror flicks are about as reliable as the genre gets commercially, and so it was fair to assume that this prequel to genre classic The Omen would be an easy hit - but also probably not very good.

Yet we ended up with the exact opposite outcome - The First Omen was widely praised for its visually tactile filmmaking, surprisingly worthy addition to the series' lore, and stunning central performance from Nell Tiger Free.

But the $30 million film ended up grossing just $54 million globally, leaving it shy of breaking even and probably far below what 20th Century Studios expected from an acclaimed entry into a legendary horror IP.

There's no single reason for The First Omen's flop but a confluence of several circumstances - The Omen not being a hugely popular franchise these days, the film's graphic and potentially off-putting content, and releasing mere weeks after the similarly-premised Sydney Sweeney-starring horror film Immaculate.

Also, given the horror genre's tendency towards lower budgets, $30 million is definitely on the steeper end.