The film’s post-debut reception may have much to do with how folks react to its various secrets.
Universal and friends couldn’t wait until Super Bowl Sunday, and they dropped their two big Super Bowl sells before the game. In the case of Hobbs and Shaw, it was on Friday morning in the guise of a three-minute (but seemingly spoiler-free) trailer. In the case of Jordan Peele’s Us, Peele himself dropped a 60-second commercial on Reddit at 8:00 am this morning. The horror flick opens on March 22, following a SXSW premiere on March 8. This teaser (fortunately) doesn’t reveal much more than the first trailer (I’m assuming the Elizabeth Moss-in-peril shot is a misdirect), but it does reveal the sheer “one perfect shot” filmmaking on display. I’m sure folks are getting tired of my “Us is to Get Out as Unbreakable is to The Sixth Sense” comparisons, but that’s really how I see this.
Of course, if Peele is truly annoyed that so many folks didn’t realize that Get Out was a horror movie (it boggles my mind how you could argue it was anything otherwise), I guess he could follow the Unbreakable formula and open with text explaining that “Look, this is a horror movie. It’s not a comedy, it’s not a documentary, it’s not a social issues drama, it’s a fricking horror movie! And none of that elevated horror nonsense, either! Boo!” Barring a miracle elsewhere, it will probably be the year’s biggest wholly original Hollywood grosser. Get Out pulled that off in 2017, with $175 million domestic and $256m worldwide, while A Quiet Place (which also teased itself at the Super Bowl and debuted at SXSW) did it in 2018 with $189m domestic and $340m worldwide.
The John Krasinski/Emily Blunt chiller earned more money in North America than any wholly original live-action movie since Gravity ($274 million in 2013). I’m not expecting that here, but it’s a figure to keep in mind if the movie truly goes supernova. I don’t want to make the mistake I did with Glass, where I looked at Split’s popularity and Unbreakable’s cult status and presumed something akin to a breakout sequel. It’s worth remembering that Unbreakable actually earned a lot less ($95m domestic and $249m worldwide) than The Sixth Sense ($292m/$672m). Presuming QC Entertainment, Monkeypaw Productions and Blumhouse didn’t spend a fortune on this original, R-rated horror flick, no one is going to get sent to the sunken place if it only pulls Lights Out/Don’t Breathe numbers. It might be about how the eventual reveal is received.
Going back to Unbreakable, audiences walking into The Sixth Sense knew they were getting a supernatural story about a kid who could see ghosts. Conversely, folks walking into Unbreakable were (generally) unaware that they were getting a grounded superhero origin story. As crazy as it sounds today, a lot of them balked at the 30-minutes-in reveal. Folks walked into Get Out knowing the core premise (a black man goes to visit and meet his white girlfriend’s parents and horror hijinks ensue). Conversely, we know the hook behind Us (a vacationing family gets stalked by assailants who are their apparent doppelgangers), we don’t know the how/why. I have a theory (which I won’t share until after the movie comes out in case I’m right), but legs may depend on how audiences react to the unspoiled elements.
