Summary

• Renfield's disappointing box office results can be attributed to its high budget, which was much higher than typical smaller horror films.
• Mixed reviews from critics and audiences affected the film's performance, with general audiences opting for other movies in April 2023.
• The release timing of Renfield, just before the summer movie season, and the lack of a bigger franchise connection, contributed to its lackluster box office performance. However, the film may find success on streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video.

Renfield was released in April 2023 to a disappointing opening weekend, with various reasons contributing to the less-than-successful Renfield box office results. Initially, a film centered around Dracula and Renfield was pitched in 2014, with the failure of The Mummy in 2017 leading to the film being refocused as a horror-comedy. The Mummy was planned to be the start of a new cinematic universe of Universal monsters including Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and Dracula. Following the underperformance and critical scathing of the Tom Cruise movie, the studio pivoted and the Chris McKay-directed Renfield is the result.

Despite the cult following the film's co-lead Nicolas Cage has garnered and his current renaissance following The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Renfield released to disappointing box office returns. While the projections for Renfield were not particularly high, the opening weekend yield worldwide was disappointing for Universal Pictures. The movie made just $26 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) against the $65 million Renfield budget, meaning that it lost the studio tens of millions of dollars.

6 Renfield's Budget Meant It Was Always Likely To Bomb At The Box Office

Arguably the biggest contribution to the Renfield box office performance was the surprisingly high budget. The ending of Renfield and the budget seem to hint that future stories set in this world could be told, something that the poor box office likely put an end to. The budget for Renfield sits at around $65 million, a staggering amount for a film of this tone, style, and story. Most smaller horror films tend to be constructed using budgets of less than $30 million, with Renfield's action sequences seemingly bumping up the cost of the film.

With Renfield not part of a larger franchise, making a profit was always going to be a tough ask with a budget of $65 million. With much of Hollywood dominated by franchise filmmaking and connections to other universes, it has been difficult for original IPs to perform at the box office despite the obvious connections to Dracula in Renfield's case. This was proven to be true with Renfield as the film pulled in a little over $10 million worldwide for its opening weekend, a number impeded by the film's admittedly budget size.

5 Renfield's Reviews Were Very Mixed

The Renfield box office was likely affected by the film's reviews. Although the pulpy horror-action-comedy vibe made the trailers for Renfield look promising, reviews of the movie were somewhat mixed. Renfield holds a critic approval rating of 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. This means that, outside of the diehard Nicolas Cage or Dracula fans that would see the film in its opening weekend, the reviews did not bill this as a must-see for general audiences. This likely impacted its opening haul, with general audiences opting to view other movies in April 2023.

This was also proven by the film's audience reviews. Upon opening weekend, Renfield was revealed to have received a CinemaScore of B-. This was the lowest CinemaScore at the time outside of Cocaine Bear, which received the same rating. This means the film did not resonate particularly well with general audiences, with the poor audience reviews likely also contributing to Renfield's box office flop due to poor word of mouth.

4 Renfield Had A Lot Of Box Office Competition

If Renfield had been released on a weekend with lesser competition, the film may have seen a higher yield on its opening weekend. However, Renfield released just two weeks after The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a film that broke multiple box office records across the board. The Super Mario Bros. Movie far surpassed $1 billion at the box office, and the film had long legs with minimal drop-offs week on week, meaning that most audiences were still opting to see the animated movie over anything else over two weeks later.

A film like The Super Mario Bros. Movie holds a much wider target audience than a niche concept like Renfield, with families more than likely opting to see the former than the latter. Only the specific, small target audience of Renfield will have opted to see it opening weekend, with other releases like The Pope's Exorcist, which released on the same day as Renfield, already splitting the horror fanbase in half, again denting Renfield's performance. As the summer movie season started in May with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Renfield didn't stand out as a must-see among the breadth of competition it faced.

3 Nicolas Cage Is Not A Box Office Draw

While Nicolas Cage has amassed a huge following and dedicated fanbase in the last few decades, the actor isn't as bankable as he was in the '90s and 2000s. In the last decade, only The Croods, The Croods: A New Age, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse can be classed as good box office performers in Cage's filmography. All of these films are animated, with Cage only providing voice performances. Each film's positive returns are attributed to its family-friendly nature and the latter's connection to a popular IP like Spider-Man.

Since the release of The Croods in 2013, the highest-grossing film in which Cage had a live-action performance was Snowden in 2016, which only grossed around $37 million. Along with Cage, the Renfield cast includes Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina. While both are great actors and entertaining in their own right, they have never been leads in movies with significant budgets. As Cage only has minimal screen time as Dracula in Renfield, most of the film relies on Hoult and Awkwafina, and they have yet to prove that they're bankable stars.

2 Renfield Released At The Wrong Time Of Year For A Dracula Movie

Renfield simply released at the wrong time of year, given its Dracula-centric premise. Releasing a few weeks before the beginning of the summer movie season was always going to dent the Renfield box office performance, with a smaller, more niche horror film being lost between the huge releases of the likes of John Wick: Chapter 4, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Outside of this though, a Dracula movie would surely have been more successful had it been released in October.

Dracula is one of the staples of Halloween, with Renfield leaning into the horror-comedy, monster aspect of its premise massively. Given this is the case, the marketing that emphasized the monster/Dracula aspect of the film would have enabled it to perform much better in October around the Halloween season. While there are some big horror releases in 2023 such as Saw X, Five Nights at Freddy's, and The Exorcist: Believer movie in October 2023, Renfield was almost guaranteed to perform better among these films than the pre-summer releases of April.

1 Renfield Is Better Suited For Streaming

Despite the poor Renfield box office, the movie can still have a second life on Amazon Prime Video and could find its audience there. Renfield is better suited for streaming given its goofy nature. While the film looks aesthetically pleasing with its New Orleans setting, it isn't particularly cinematic, and it certainly isn't the event movie that absolutely had to be watched in theaters. The film can be watched on the small screen without losing any of its charm, and it's easy to throw on while at home. Renfield 2 might not happen due to the Renfield box office performance, but if it's successful on streaming, the sequel could be reconsidered.

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  Renfield

  Summary:

  In this horror comedy, Renfield, the lackey of Count Dracula, aids the famous vampire on his journey to the new world. Unfortunately, the long-suffering servant is committed to an insane asylum after being framed for the murder of several ship crew members on arrival. When given a second chance at life, he falls for a quirky and aggressive traffic cop named Rebecca Quincy.

  Cast:

  Nicholas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, James Moses Black, Caroline Williams, Brandon Scott Jones

  Director:

  Chris McKay

  Genres:

  Horror, Comedy

  Rating:

  R

  Writers:

  Ryan Ridley

  Release Date:

  2023-04-14

  Runtime:

  93 minutes

  Budget:

  $86.2 million

  Studio(s):

  Skybound Entertainment

  Distributor(s):

  Universal Pictures