In a post-pandemic Hollywood, the box office has suffered historic lows as the general public – having spent two years watching all their non-franchise films at home in front of their giant TVs – has slowly grown accustomed to not sitting in a crowded theater with other people. Thus, this past August saw terrible turnout at the movies, with horror films Spiral: From the Book of Saw and The Invitation battling to be the lowest-earning number one films since modern earnings tracking records were instituted.
But now The Invitation is proving that its success doesn’t quite deserve the asterisk next to its record that one might assume from the audience numbers, as it found its audience and earned its way onto Netflix’ global top ten film ranking.
The film could hardly have been considered a flop, earning $33.7 million in its theatrical release on a $10 million budget. Box office ranking aside, it’s quite an achievement from a poorly reviewed film (sitting at a 27% “fresh rating” on Rotten Tomatoes) whose leads Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty have appeared in roles in popular franchises including Game of Thrones, The Fast and the Furious, and The Descendants, but don’t have the name recognition to carry a hit film on their own.
It’s also a testament to the abilities of young director Jessica Thompson whose biggest gig to date has been the 2020 Showtime series The End which was not widely viewed.
The rest of the top five list are taken up by films with a wider name recognition, including both installments of Rian Johnson’s popular Knives Out film series.
