Comparatively to other horror releases in 2024, How Big A Hit Tarot is
Three titles, namely the prequel The First Omen, the Blumhouse haunted pool movie Night Swim, and the South Korean supernatural title Exhuma (which performed remarkably well internationally despite only running in limited theaters for one week in North America), have thus so far only surpassed the Tarot release in 2024. Still, a movie's break-even mark is typically at least double its production budget, therefore its modest budget makes it competitive even among those ranks. See below a complete performance analysis of the Top 5 horror films from 2024:
Title; Budget; Est. Break- EVEN Point; World Box Office; Box Office as a Percentage of Budget
--- |--- |--- |--- |--- |
Exhuum | Unknown | Unknown | $97.1 million | Unknown
$15 million | $30 million | $54.1 million | 360% Night Swim
The First Omen; $30 million; $60 million; $53.7 million; 179%
Tarot | $8 million | $16 million | $45.4 million | 567%
Abigail | $28 million | $56 million | $42.1 million | 150%
For the four titles for which budget data is available, the Tarot movie had ultimately the best return on investment. Given their bigger budgets—one of which outgrossed the $8 million title on the chart—two of them most certainly didn't break even. Furthermore lacking coverage in those calculated break-even points is the cost of marketing. Tarot's marketing was probably far less expensive and its success came more from word-of-mouth, letting it succeed financially in that sector as well. Other titles on the ranking were more blockbuster-oriented and had more strong media campaigns.
Horror film with a 19% RT score Quietly Quintuples Budget, Outgrossing All But Three Years Horror Releases
Tarot became one of the top-grossing horror films of the year and more than quintupled its budget. Based on Nicholas Adams' 1992 book Horrorscope, the new film stars Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika, Olwen Fouéré, and Jacob Batalon and centers on a group of friends pursued by otherworldly creatures following their horoscopes read with a cursed tarot deck. Though that didn't stop the film from almost double its budget in its first 10 days at the Box Office, mostly poor Tarot reviews have resulted in a 19% grade on Rotten Tomatoes.
Although Tarot is already available on VOD as of May 28, per Box Office Mojo Tarot has grossed $45.4 million globally ahead of its seventh weekend in cinemas. The movie has therefore made five and a half times its $8 million budget. Apart from that, it is the fourth highest-grossing horror film of 2024, surpassing well-known films including Radio Silence's ballerina vampire outing Abigail ($42 million), Renny Harlin's franchise reboot The Strangers: Chapter 1 ($39.2 million), and Blumhouse's twisted childhood movie Imaginary ($39.1 million).
The Horrors of Tomorrow
Tarot will definitely slide lower down the table of 2024 Horror releases as the year runs on. Attached to well-known franchises and filmmakers, other big horror films scheduled for release at theaters will probably outgross it as well: A Quiet Place: Day One, Alien: Romulus, and Smile 2. Though the horoscope-inspired bombshell most likely fell from the Top 5, it appears unlikely that any other title will become such a solitary hit in terms of budget and popularity in face of such a critical sloppiness.
The combined box office performance of Tarot and The Strangers: Chapter 1 reveals something unexpected regarding the future of the horror genre with viewers. Though most huge budget films fail, the low-budget, Horror Movie could still be a good choice for viewers, maybe particularly in a market where a few blockbuster hits predominate. Whether this is merely a fluke or if the horror genre is poised to see a comeback of low-budget, high-profit Movies is yet unknown.
The Tarot's Plot
Following their tarot card readings, the story revolves on a group of college pals who begin dying in ways connected to their fortunes. They have to cooperate to solve the riddle before their time is running out.
Though hardly a horror masterpiece, Tarot has showed that audience tastes for the genre can be unexpected and that smaller budgets can still produce great horror films. As more low-budget horror films come out and viewers hunt out more original and creative ideas from the genre, maybe this trend will continue.
