After nearly three years on the shelf, I don’t think 20th Century Fox was expecting much from the theatrical release of Underwater, which looks set for a major loss with its reported $60M-$80M budget.
The aquatic horror took in an awful estimated $7M here in the States, setting the table for an extensive loss if international numbers aren’t extraordinary, which they weren’t. A quick update pegs the film with only $7.1M million overseas for a global opening of just $14M. Ouch.
Interestingly, the William Eubank-directed aquatic horror movie was put into production just months before the release of Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, which would underperform and cause the studio to pull the plug on the next film in the Alien saga. Mixed with the Disney acquisition, Underwater was blessed into production, but cursed in its release. If anything, this feels like a case of the studio/distributor cleaning out their closet.
Their loss, our gain.
While Underwater is getting beat down by mainstream critics and already sinking at the box office, we horror fans are embracing the Kristen Stewart starrer as a new classic, a diamond in the rough that we can claim as ours.
In the film, a crew of underwater researchers must scramble to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. After digging, “something” has awakened.
Clearly inspired by Alien, Underwater actually has more in common with Cloverfield, which John Squires celebrated over the weekend. Our very own Meagan Navarro called it the “perfect popcorn horror movie.” Meanwhile, many of us horror fans have welcomed Underwater with open arms; Twitter’s film community has been championing it all weekend long.
These are the moments where it becomes clear how unimportant box office numbers can be. Sure, Disney is going to take a multimillion-dollar loss, but the entire horror community just gained a new family member. While time will prove its true value, it sure does feel as if Underwater will stand the test of time and be remembered by horror fans until the end of time. That’s anything but a failure.
