Movie Theater Attendance Has Been Ghastly, But Horror Movies Are Scaring Up Great Returns

Movie theater owners have been dealing with frighteningly low attendance.

But there’s been one bright spot: scary movies.

Overall box office returns to date continue to be down about 34% from 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. Cineworld, the owner of the Regal chain, has said during its bankruptcy reorganization that attendance won’t return to normal levels until 2025.

Yet even as moviegoers continue to avoid the multiplex, many are returning in droves for one specific genre — horror.