Despite the fact 2024’s Nosferatu has a star-studded cast and plenty of audience anticipation, the movie may not be as successful as previously hoped due to recent box office trends when it comes to vampire movies. Nosferatu is a horror mystery movie directed by Robert Eggers and starring Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe, Lily-Rose Depp, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Based on the 1922 German film of the same name, Nosferatu follows the passionate and toxic relationship between a young woman and a horrifying vampire. This is the third remake of Nosferatu, which was originally inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu has been in development since 2015, after Eggers directed A24’s The Witch, and anticipation has been high ever since. Furthermore, the film has only received more hype with the announcement of its cast, which is full of huge stars both in and out of the horror genre. Overall, Nosferatu is on track to be a major release for 2024, and a movie audiences should definitely be watching out for. However, even with all of these benefits, recent happenings at the box office imply that Nosferatu may not be as lucky as previously thought.

Abigail Is The Third Straight Vampire Movie To Underperform At The Box Office

Vampire movies are failing at the box office

Although Nosferatu has many good things going for it, the movie may suffer anyway. Recently, the last three big vampire movies to hit the big screen underperformed. In April 2023, the horror comedy Renfield earned only $26 million on a $65 million budget. A few months later, the same happened to The Last Voyage of Demeter, which earned a measly $21 million against its $45 million budget. And now, in April 2024, Abigail’s box office has managed to surpass its notably low budget of $28 million but only by a hair, earning $31 million at this time.

What is particularly worrisome about these box office stats is that all three of these movies were well-received. Renfield earned a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, while The Last Voyage of Demeter earned a 75%, and Abigail an 85%. Those who are seeing these vampire movies are enjoying them, but unfortunately, not enough people are actually going to the movie theater to watch them, keeping their box office numbers dismal.

Nosferatu Was Already A Box Office Risk Before Abigail

Robert Eggers is controversial

Nosferatu faces another big problem aside from the vampire box office trend. Despite its amazing cast and iconic story, Nosferatu’s director puts the movie at a disadvantage. Although Robert Eggers movies have been very notable and critically acclaimed like The Witch and The Lighthouse, his movies are not necessarily the most commercially successful. Typically, Eggers’ films call to a very specific type of audience, those who enjoy very dark and mysterious movies that burn slowly. In this way, not everyone love Eggers’ style, and this could seriously hurt Nosferatu’s chances at the box office in December.

A great example of this phenomenon is Robert Eggers’ most recent movie, The Northman. Like Nosferatu, the 2022 movie enjoyed a star-studded cast including Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, and Willem Dafoe. It also did fairly well with critics and audiences, scoring a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, The Northman notably underperformed at the box office. On a budget of $70-90 million, the movie only grossed $69 million. In this way, Robert Eggers had a movie with many variables going for it, however, based on his style of filmmaking, audiences were not intrigued enough to visit theaters.

Nosferatu’s Box Office Could Be Final Nail In Dracula’s Coffin

Vampire movies could see a long hiatus

In the event that Nosferatu experiences the same fate as the last three vampire movies to be released in theaters, this would have a massive effect on vampire movies as a whole. Nosferatu has a headstart over these previous vampire movies due to its iconic story, so if it manages to flop at the box office, this will be very telling about how audiences feel about vampire films at this time. If Nosferatu does not have a good box office performance, then it seems likely that vampire movies will be put on the backburner for the time being.

Nosferatu’s failure could also be telling for other monster movies coming in the future. There is a Frankenstein reboot and a Wolfman reboot both coming in the next year or two, and if Nosferatu does not manage to captivate audiences, then other monster remakes may be at risk as well. Hollywood currently has a monster movie trend taking place, and unfortunately, audiences may not be ready for it. Hopefully though, Nosferatu can prove that the vampire, and the monster movie, are both still valuable to audiences.

Nosferatu (2024)

Release Date

December 25, 2024

Studio(s)

Regency Enterprises , 1492 Pictures

Distributor(s)

Focus Features , Universal Pictures