Evil Dead Burn’s Opening Weekend Numbers Are In, and They’re Rough
Horror has quietly been one of the biggest stories at the 2026 box office, with smaller genre films finding outsized success against bloated blockbusters all summer long. Indie titles Obsession and Backrooms turned into two of the season’s biggest draws, pulling in hundreds of millions worldwide. Against that backdrop, Warner Bros. was hoping the newest installment in a beloved horror franchise would keep that momentum going.
Heading into release, tracking for ‘Evil Dead Burn’ looked genuinely exciting. Forecasters had the film opening anywhere from twenty five to thirty million dollars domestically, with some analysts pointing to a baseline around twenty five million based on how the franchise had performed before. The 2013 reboot had opened to $25.8 million and 2023’s ‘Evil Dead Rise’ debuted at $24.5 million, so a new franchise record genuinely seemed within reach.
That optimism did not hold up. After weeks of tracking in the twenty five to thirty million dollar range, the latest estimates have the film opening at a brutal $13.7 million domestically, a massive miss well below where most expected it to land. That number lines up with what industry accounts like Dread Central’s Brad flagged as the film opened far below expectations, a sentiment echoed across the trade press this weekend.
The film did not open in a vacuum either. It was a rough weekend across the board, with neither Disney’s Moana nor Warner Bros.’ ‘Evil Dead Burn’ opening within expectations. The final tally left ‘Evil Dead Burn’ roughly ten million dollars behind the opening weekend of ‘Evil Dead Rise,’ a steep drop for a franchise that had been trending upward with each new entry.
The disappointment does not appear to be a quality problem. ‘Evil Dead Burn’ earned mostly positive reviews, landing a 72 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, along with the recognizability of a legendary horror IP behind it. It even matched ‘Evil Dead Rise’s’ CinemaScore of a B, though it failed to match its predecessor’s opening day total, coming in behind horror hits like The Black Phone and Smile.
The bigger concern now is what happens next. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey arrives in theaters next weekend, and horror films are notoriously front loaded, meaning a steep second weekend drop of seventy percent or more would not be a shock. That kind of freefall could make it difficult for ‘Evil Dead Burn’ to reach even the modest totals its predecessors managed. According to Dread Central’s own breakdown of the disappointing debut, the film’s ending now reads a little differently in hindsight, less like an exciting tease and more like a reminder that fans may be waiting a while before the Deadites return.
The franchise itself is not going anywhere regardless of how this weekend shakes out. A seventh installment, ‘Evil Dead Wrath,’ directed by Francis Galluppi, is already in production and slated for a 2028 release, meaning another Deadite outbreak is coming no matter what happens here. The upcoming film is set to serve as a prequel to the original ‘Evil Dead,’ giving the franchise a chance to reset before its next chapter.
Do you think people should be 'Evil Dead Burn' more?
For now, ‘Evil Dead Burn’ stands as a reminder that even a well reviewed, well liked entry in a beloved franchise can still stumble against a crowded summer calendar. Did the marketing fail this one, or is horror fatigue finally catching up with the Deadites, and what do you think it will take for ‘Evil Dead Wrath’ to bring audiences back in 2028?
