Blumhouse’s $12M Action Horror Movie Climbs Netflix’s Global Charts 4 Years Later

Blumhouse is one of the biggest names in horror. The production company now regularly releases anywhere between four and 12 movies a year, partnering with distributors like Warner Bros., Universal, Lionsgate, and Paramount, as well as streamers like Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Peacock. Though the stories, casts, and overall quality for Blumhouse movies vary from title to title, the films are generally made for less than $20 million, and they’re generally horror or horror-adjacent.

2020 was a complicated year for Hollywood with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but several Blumhouse titles were still able to break through. The company’s biggest success story of the year is, of course, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, but Freaky and Fantasy Island were also hits. Other titles went straight to VOD, like You Should Have Left and The Craft: Legacy. One of Blumhouse’s more notable 2020 titles was hit hard by the pandemic, but it’s now finding new success on streaming.

The Hunt Has Become A Top 10 Netflix Hit

The Blumhouse Horror-Thriller Is Now Reaching Audiences

The Hunt has now found success on Netflix following its theatrical release in 2020. Directed by Craig Zobel, the film follows Betty Gilpin’s Crystal and 11 other strangers as they wake up together in the wilderness, soon discovering that they are being hunted by wealthy elites for sport. The Hunt was a controversial film before it even released due to misinformation about its political subject matter, and it hit theaters only a week before the pandemic, grossing only $12 million worldwide on its $14 million budget.

Related

The Most Underrated Horror Movies Of 2020

2020 had some triumphs despite the odds, but a few of the year’s horror movie offerings were greatly overlooked — don’t sleep on these hidden gems.

Following this disappointing box office result, however, Netflix now reveals that The Hunt is the ninth most popular movie on the service globally for the week of November 18 – 24. The film makes the top 10 in 22 countries in total, including Brazil, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Morocco, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. Though The Hunt beats Rob Peace (2024), it falls behind other titles like Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and Meet Me Next Christmas (2024). Check out the full top 10 list below:

What The Hunt’s Netflix Success Means For Its Legacy

How The Blumhouse Release Fared With Critics

After being kneecapped by the onset of the pandemic and the closure of theaters, The Hunt‘s newfound Netflix success signals that audiences are now seeking out the 2020 film. The Blumhouse release’s popularity also comes at an interesting time for the U.S. following the 2024 election. One key element of the movie is its satirical take on the large political divide between the left and the right in American politics, so it’s notable that the movie is now surging in viewership.

The critical response to the movie, however, suggests that its satire isn’t entirely successful. The Hunt has only a 57% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics mostly agreeing that, though it features some fun action, the political themes aren’t particularly deep or thoughtful. The audience score is higher at 66%, but this is still quite lukewarm. Clearly, however, despite this, The Hunt is now connecting with viewers on Netflix.

Source: Netflix

Set against a politically strained backdrop, The Hunt is a horror-action film that follows a group of captured Americans who are set loose in a booby-trapped ground where wealthy elite citizens hunt them for sport. As the game progresses, the elites notice something is off – and they’re right. One of the unwilling participants knows the game better than they do, and she aims to turn the tables on them.

Director

Craig Zobel

Release Date

March 13, 2020

Studio(s)

Universal Pictures

Distributor(s)

Universal Pictures

Writers

Nick Cuse , Damon Lindelof

Runtime

90 Minutes

Budget

$15 million

Expand