'Abigail', the new horror movie by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo behind titles such as 'Ready or Not' and 'Scream 6', is now playing in theaters. We will soon find out how it does at the box office - it has a budget of $28 million, so the demand will be higher than other horror titles - but U.S. audiences seem to have been very happy with it. 'Abigail' has earned a B rating in the U.S., a pretty high grade for a horror film, as it is surely the genre that is most harshly received on Cinemascore. In fact, that makes it the best serious horror film so far in 2024 according to this service's grades.
It's fair to point out that there aren't that many horror films that have received a Cinemascore rating so far this year either. For example, these would be its competitors: 'Night Swim' got a C, 'Imaginary' got a C+, 'Immaculate' got a C, and 'The First Omen' also got a C.
The only one that could dispute the title is 'Lisa Frankenstein', which in all fairness is more of a comedy than a horror film. That title also received a B on Cinemascore, but its impact has been practically non-existent, as it hasn't even reached $10 million at the box office when its budget was $13 million. In addition, 'Abigail' has a certified 89% positive audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while 'Lisa Frankenstein' is at 81%. To use a close reference, 'Abigail' has achieved the same score as 'Megan' did last year. The film starring Allison Williams ended up taking the box office by storm with revenues of $180 million and it won't be long before we see the sequel.
