8 Upcoming Horror Movies That Could Steal IT's Box-Office Crown

It's hard to label the continuing box-office success of It: Chapter One as anything other than an absolute surprise.

September has never been a big money-making month for movies (It's $123 million opening crushed the previous September record of $48 million) and this August was one of the quietest on record, so nobody was expecting Pennywise to swoop in and make an amount of cash that would be impressive for a Marvel blockbuster, let alone a horror with a modest budget.

One thing this success did make clear is that when it comes to box-office, anything can happen. This year has been full of surprises - War For The Planet Of The Apes' lacklustre performance, Get Out's insane profit margin - and this makes it hard to predict the next breakout hit.

That said, the horror genre is one that's begun to thrive in recent years, with the likes of The Conjuring and Split putting up some seriously impressive numbers, and there are plenty of upcoming scary movies that could perform just as well - if not better - and could even dethrone It as that surprise horror box-office smash that everyone is talking about.

But which movies stand the best chance of actually pulling that off?

The most successful horror franchises typically feature a central monster or ghoul around which the movie (and the marketing campaign) revolves - like Friday The 13th’s Jason, Nightmare On Elm Streets' Freddy, Alien’s Xenomorphs, and, more recently, It’s Pennywise.

These familiar icons ensure each franchise continues to resonate with audiences, while also being able to lure in new viewers with ease - countless people went to see It because it was “that scary clown movie” and not necessarily because they had read Stephen King’s original novel.

And a creepy, demonic nun - appearing in 2018’s aptly-titled The Nun - could be the next big horror icon.

The fact that the character is getting its own movie (after appearing in The Conjuring 2) is an indication of its popularity, and, like Pennywise was in 2017, the titular Nun could be 2018’s most talked-about spooky monster. The Nun is also being marketed by Warner Bros, who who did a great job with It, helping propel that film to success.

One thing that could diminish The Nun’s box-office returns is its prime summer release date, where it will be surrounded by the likes of Hotel Transylvania 3, Ant-Man And The Wasp, and Dwayne Johnson's Skyscraper.

However, if The Nun is fantastic and those other films range from “meh” to “terrible” - or just don’t land with audiences - then repeat business could give The Nun the legs it will need to come close to It: Chapter One’s success.