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The Insidious franchise just expanded further with the release of Insidious: The Red Door in July. The horror series that began in 2010 with James Wan’s Insidious has been tremendously successful, and each release has benefited from the hype and popularity of its predecessor. To date, the five pictures have earned more than $611 million combined at the box office, from a modest budget of only $42.5 million. These movies provide excellent evidence that the franchise model is superior to standalone releases in horror. The next step for Insidious would be to branch out into online casino games to cement its status further.
A trailer for Insidious: The Red Door.
Franchises Can Leverage Booming Sectors Like Online Casinos
There’s certainly an argument to suggest that franchise horrors have a greater chance of standing the test of time and forging a legacy than standalone films. This is partly because they can be adapted so well in booming sectors like the online casino industry. Some of the most iconic horror movies of all time are still recognised universally to this day, despite not having had a recent release. For instance, there’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, which was first released in 1984 with the latest reboot coming in 2010. Still, the A Nightmare On Elm Street slot is one of the most loved online casino games in 2023. Not only is there the Megaways reel spinner, but there’s even A Nightmare on Elm Street Scratch game. Online casinos know that the iconic razor blade-filled hand of Freddy Krueger on the thumbnail of games is enough to grab players’ attention and make them want to play.
Along with licenced online slot games based on horror movies, many of the classic tropes of the genre have crossed over into online casino games as well. For instance, horror movies like Insidious rely on clever sound editing to add to the scares. Online casino games use soundtracks to up the immersion levels and give players a sense of escapism. Because slots use these elements, they make excellent options for horror franchises to use in their marketing efforts. There’s no Insidious slot game available yet, but it could be a future option for developers to consider thanks to its infamous characters and settings.
There are plenty of other well-known horror pictures that are still instantly identified by modern audiences thanks to their notoriety as part of franchises. For example, there hasn’t been an instalment in the Friday the 13th series since 2009, but the legacy of these films has lived on to this day. Other franchises like Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are famous with modern viewers thanks to game adaptations. They have such a solid reputation that new releases and reboots always stand a good chance of attracting large audiences. Of course, there are excellent standalone offerings like The Exorcist and The Shining that have been remembered for years. However, there are many other pictures that were reasonably well-liked at the time of their releases but have been forgotten about in the modern age. It’s worth mentioning that those two iconic pictures from William Friedkin and Stanley Kubrick respectively did go on to spark other related offerings to keep their legacies alive later on. For example, there was the recent release of Doctor Sleep in 2019, which served as a sequel to The Shining and helped raise awareness of that film to modern audiences.
It appears that Insidious has managed to follow the same path as many of the other legendary horror franchises that first emerged in the 1980s. If the franchise spills out into online casino games, it’s highly likely that future horror fans will discuss these pictures and that they will be just as iconic as offerings like A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Insidious: The Red Door Proves That Franchises Can Boost New Releases
Insidious: The Red Door hit screens on the 7th of July 2023 and by the 12th of July it had already grossed $68 million worldwide. This means it’s well on track to becoming the highest-grossing offering in the series to date. That record is currently held by its predecessor, Insidious: The Last Key, which earned $167 million at the box office. The success of that picture encouraged Universal Pictures to continue with the franchise, and it already seems to have been a good decision by the production company.
It's clear that audiences flock to new Insidious films because they know what they are getting. The concept has been well-established, with recurring themes and characters throughout each instalment. The writers have been clever not to overdo the same ideas in each offering and have kept key elements while ensuring that there’s enough freshness in each. The first two pictures are closely linked, but then the third is a prequel. The fourth offering follows a brand-new set of characters, while the fifth revisits the storyline from the first two pictures nine years later.
Another factor that has worked in the favour of the Insidious franchise is that it has many big names in it. Wan is a well-established director, and it boasts household names in its cast – something that not all horror films can use as a selling point. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne have both featured in three of the five movies. The Red Door marks the directorial debut of Wilson, and fans of the iconic horror star will be eager to see this. Perhaps with the huge names on board in the latest picture, it would have been a success as a standalone film. But it’s reasonable to believe that having the other films in the franchise behind it has helped with the marketing.
Where Does the Latest Insidious Stack Up Against Its Predecessors?
All the successors to the original Insidious picture in 2010 have tried to live up to the eerie tone of that haunting offering. In that film, Wan employed a variety of horror techniques to pull off some serious scares. This included using a dark and foreboding atmosphere brought about by dim lighting and cleverly designed sets. There are numerous jump scares that are helped by the sound design. The audio effects include discordant music and unsettling whispers, combining to keep viewers constantly on edge.
The 10 scariest moments in the Insidious franchise.
Many Insidious fans would still put the original up there as the scariest in the franchise, with Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 generally failing to land as many blows as the first. Critics found that The Last Ley was a generally formulaic movie and less scary than the earlier entries. Unfortunately for people in search of serious frights, Insidious: The Red Door brings nothing new to the table. Indeed, critics of the picture have noted how Wilson’s inexperience in the director’s chair is noticeable and his finished product can't compare to that of the old horror hands like Wan.
The fact that Insidious: The Red Door has garnered mixed reviews but still been successful at the box office highlights the might of the franchise model in horror. Viewers have flocked to see a continuation of the long-running story, and many are delighted that they can witness the same scare techniques employed again. It goes to show that a franchise horror doesn’t necessarily need to be good to make money. This isn’t the last we will see of the franchise, and there are already plans for a spinoff in the future.