The Most Successful Horror Movies of All Time

It’s scary how much money some movies make in this genre.

The Most Successful Horror Movies of All Time

Sometimes movies are so surprisingly successful it’s scary.

Though many blockbusters these days are action movies or superhero movies, horror movies still get plenty of box-office love. And, because so many horror movies can be made on shoestring budgets, the profit margin on a major hit can really make everyone involved scream with joy.

Definitions of the horror genre vary. Does there need to be gore? Can aliens can join in without it becoming SciFi? Box Office Mojo breaks the horror genre into nine separate subgenres. We stuck to a broad, traditional approach that cuts across categories; our list includes tons of scares, lots of twists, loads of screaming and, of course, plenty of carnage.

These films are ranked by net profit. The budget and worldwide gross projections come from Box Office Mojo. These figures can help you see the staggering overall net profit for these films.

15) “Scream”

Year: 1996

Budget: $14 million*

Worldwide Gross: $173,046,663

Net: $159,046,663

If you’ve ever screamed “What are you waiting for?” up to the sky while spinning around, you already know that “Scream” is easily one of the most successful scary movies of all time.

It broke so many scary movie “rules,” including killing off a major star in the opening sequence and immediately making the viewer feel uneasy about who might live and who might die. Even the sequels made a ton of money.

* Numbers throughout have not been adjusted for inflation.

14) “What Lies Beneath”

Year: 2000

Budget: $100 million

Worldwide Gross: $291,420,351

Net: $191,420,351

Though horror movies often use lesser known or unrecognizable actors, which helps with the budget and with the suspension of belief, this major hit starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer proved that two big stars can front a horror film and tons of people will still come out and see it.

13) “Paranormal Activity”

Year: 2007

Budget: $15,000

Worldwide Gross: $193,355,800

Net: $193,340,800

Like “The Blair Witch Project,” “Paranormal Activity” was made for next-to-nothing and made monster profits. Like “Blair Witch,” it capitalized on the idea of “found footage,” creepy shots made people truly believe they were looking into a real-life story of a young family being haunted by a demonic ghost.

People believed it enough for the filmmakers to make millions in profits and inspire a number of spinoffs and sequels.

12) “The Village”

Year: 2004

Budget: $60 million

Worldwide Gross: $256,697,520

Net: $196,697,520

Arguably one of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan’s best works, “The Village” played on paranoia, mystery and – in typical Shyamalan fashion – a major twist ending.

Though plenty of critics argued that some parts were predictable and played out, plenty of people enjoyed the movie. Plus, it was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Score category.

11) “The Ring”

Year: 2002

Budget: $48 million

Worldwide Gross: $249,348,933

Net: $201,348,933

The movie that inspired a million wet-haired and slow-walking Halloween costumes, “The Ring” was an American remake of a Japanese horror film from about a decade before.

Its huge financial and critical success not only led to many sequels, but it also opened the door for more foreign horror film remakes.

10) “Shutter Island”

Year: 2010

Budget: $80 million

Worldwide Gross: $294,804,195

Net: $214,804,195

With Leonardo DiCaprio on screen and Martin Scorsese at the helm, it’s hard to imagine this film not being extremely successful. But horror is definitely its own genre and even the most successful stars can get too far out of their element dabbling in it.

That certainly wasn’t the case with this thrilling and twisted adaptation. Both audiences and critics generally enjoyed it. And, like many good horror films, it has a surprise ending that leaves you plenty unnerved.

9) “Resident Evil: Afterlife”

Year: 2010

Budget: $60 million

Worldwide Gross: $300,228,084

Net: $240,228,084

It’s fourth installment of the popular film series, but the first to be filmed in 3D. Despite reviews that weren’t as glowing as they were for its predecessors, people came out to experience the action in huge numbers.

8) “The Blair Witch Project”

Year: 1999

Budget: $60,000

Worldwide Gross: $248,639,099

Net: $248,579,099

Easily one of the most memorable movies in modern history, this film captured lightning in a bottle. With unknown names at the helm, it was unclear to many people if this was genuinely found footage of thrillseekers who got lost in the woods or if it was fictional.

Despite the fact that it was, of course, fictional, the huge profits made on the film were very, very real.

7) “Annabelle”

Year: 2014

Budget: $6.5 million

Worldwide Gross: $257,047,661

Net: $250,547,661

Anyone who has ever been creeped out by dolls certainly sees the appeal of a film like “Annabelle.”

The movie came out shortly after “The Conjuring” and didn’t receive generally positive reviews like the latter. But that didn’t matter to audiences who loved it and continued to love it, so much so that its sequel – which is a prequel (“Annabelle: Creation”) – was also really successful at the box office.

6) “Get Out”

Year: 2017

Budget: $4.5 million

Worldwide Gross: $255,457,364

Net: $250,957,364

One of the biggest cultural sensations in recent history, this incredibly refreshing horror film came from comedian-turned-Academy Award winning director Jordan Peele.

The storyline not only creeped people out, but it also struck a chord with millions of people who made it an extremely financially successful hit film.

5) “The Silence of the Lambs”

Year: 1991

Budget: $19 million

Worldwide Gross: $272,742,922

Net: $253,742,922

This classic horror movie was not only successful financially, it was critically acclaimed, winning the “Big 5” Academy Awards in 1992: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

It quickly joined the ranks of horror masterpieces alongside “Psycho” and “Halloween,” and the U.S. Library of Congress preserved it in the National Film Registry in 2011.

4) “Hannibal”

Year: 2001

Budget: $87 million

Worldwide Gross: $351,692,268

Net: $264,692,268

Rarely do sequels do better than originals, but rarely do you encounter a villain as spine-tinglingly horrifying as Hannibal Lecter.

The movie is adapted from a 1999 novel of the same name, which was particularly gory. Though many of the original cast and creative team who were part of “The Silence of the Lambs” declined to be involved, eventually esteemed director Ridley Scott signed on. And when the filmmakers convinced Anthony Hopkins to reprise his character, it’s no wonder people came out in droves to see the disturbing killer back in action.

3) “The Conjuring”

Year: 2013

Budget: $20 million

Worldwide Gross: $319,494,638

Net: $299,494,638

Again supposedly inspired by real people, the chilling story of paranormal investigators attempting to solve a demonic mystery struck a chord with people.

The first in a what would become a film series (with a sequel released and third on the way), its ties to another popular horror story, “The Amityville Horror,” help make this movie extremely popular.

2) “The Exorcist”

Year: 1973

Budget: $12 million, estimated

Worldwide Gross: $441,306,145

Net: $429,306,145

Part of the massive lifetime gross of this movie is a result of it being one of the first major horror films to define the modern genre.

There’s lore of the movie being inspired by real-life exorcisms, which often entices people to see a film – especially one as other-worldly as this. It’s ongoing popularity means that it is often re-released in theaters for new generations of people to experience the exorcism on the big screen.

1) “It”

Year: 2017

Budget: $37 million

Worldwide Gross: $700,381,748

Net: $663,381,748

The latest Stephen King thriller brought to the silver screen blew away even the most generous box office projections. The creepy clown brought chills to people all over the world as they came out in droves to be terrified. Unsurprisingly, after the movie’s massive success, a sequel is already in the works.