20 Horror Movie Box Office Bombs EVERYONE Saw Coming

7. Eddington

Along with a number of names that announced themselves on the horror stage within the last decade has been Ari Aster, who, with Hereditary and Midsommar in 2018 and 2019, respectively, made a more than impressive start to his career.

Working off roughly a $9-10 million budget for each project, Hereditary and Midsommar both saw commercial success, something that eluded 2023's Beau is Afraid. This acted as something of a litmus test for Aster's next work, 2024's Eddington.

Though not quite as expensive as Beau is Afraid (which cost $35 million), Eddington still ranks as one of A24's most expensive projects to date, with a price tag of $25 million, the majority of which likely went to the likes of Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone. A huge haul was needed for this to avoid the label of box office bomb, but, particularly after how Beau is Afraid went down like a lead balloon, it was never likely to happen.

Aster's name was proven not to be a big enough draw with the masses to get bums on seats, and there was nothing that suggested this would change for his fourth outing. Then, of course, there is the fact that the vast majority of audiences go to the cinema for an escape from the real world, and something based so heavily on the COVID-19 pandemic was never likely to be a winner.