@gromit82​,

Sorry, I accidentally inserted the wrong version, when I typed in "House of Wax" to add the title. The data applies to the 1953 original, not the 2005 remake. I have made the correction to the list. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross_adjusted/?adjust_gross_to=2022&offset=110

Horror Movies Ranked by Most Domestic Tickets Sold HM

This list corroborates the information ranking posted between on the two lists, but by adjusting the box office receipts for inflation outright. wheresthejump.com/highest-grossing-horror-movies-at-the-box-office/.

@gromit82​ Do you remember any horror movies that were a big deal when they came out, that are not on the two lists?

@TheOldJalapenoman​ You are correct about Rocky Horror Picture Show, it was a flop, until a NYC exhibitor got the idea of showing the film at midnight. It take many weekends for the crowds to grow larger than ones they had during to the day, and he noticed it was the same kids who were showing up week after week. The distributor noticed the anomoly, and started showing it at midnight in other cities, eventually the film went nationwide with weekend midnight shows and sparking the tradition that continues to this day.

I saw the 1976 King Kong in theaters too with my brother and we thought it was pretty good. I remember the same comments, but thought it was pretty harsh and thought she was perfect for the role. I thought Jeff Bridges was perfect for his role too. The DVD boxes today probably herald the two on front with "Oscar Winner" over their names.

Do you remember any horror movies that were a big deal when they came out, that are not on the two lists?

@urbanemovies​ 

The first movie to come immediately to mind is "The Fog."  It was one of the first movies that Jamie Lee Curtis did after her success with "Halloween."  I thought that this movie was pretty weak.

I used to work in a theatre that had done Rocky Horror midnight shows for years.  It was a real mess cleaning that place up.  The showings stopped one year after the kid who won a costume contest and got his picture in the paper one week in his makeup and costume then shot his parents (and the photo that the newspaper had on file was one of him dressed up for Rocky Horror).  Every theatre in the city stopped midnight movies of Rocky Horror for a couple of years.

One of the big reasons (well, more than one...) that my brother and I both enjoyed Jessica Lange were her see through costumes and nudity.  Hey, we were teenagers!

@urbanemovies​ 

Was "Damien:  Omen II" on the list?  I remember the theatre being pretty crowded for that one.

What about:

Psycho II  (It was really popular the first few weeks)

Single White Female  (more psychological horror than classic horror)

Fatal Attraction 

@TheOldJalapenoman​

I suspect there are some horror movies without unreported box office that may be not listed, like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) or another big event, groundbreaking horror film. Also, I maybe missing an obvious choice that I may not considered horror by some, like Black Swan, although I think I am pushing the limits in that regard. The cutoff is 15M North American tickets and Blade (1998) and Friday the 13th (1980) just miss that threshold. I considered 'The Birds' and 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', but both did not cross the 15M threshold. All five give you an idea of the type of the splash the film had to make when it came out.

Great suggestions, all made a big splash, but were not big enough hits with exception of Fatal Attraction (1987), which I think lacks a couple key elements to make the claim it is a psychological horror film.

Damien: Omen II (1978) 11,506,634 estimated tickets

The Fog (1980) 7,973,545 estimated tickets

Psycho II (1983) 11,188,912 estimated tickets

Single White Female (1992) 11,743,747 estimated tickets

Fatal Attraction (1987) 39,680,700 estimated tickets

but more psychological thriller than psychological horror

[REVIEW] Is ‘Fatal Attraction’ (1987) A Horror Film?

I am always impressed with smart casting decisions, that seem risky at the time, but in hindsight seem to be prothetic. Lange's bathing waterfall scene, her girl next-door looks, and sex appeal are key selling points of the movie, not to mention I think it was unfair to claim she was a poor actress. In hindsight, she had the same ingenue feel that I think Fay Wray brought to the role four decades earlier.

@Peter_pbn​ 

I think it is better to note that the list may be somewhat incomplete due to box office reporting limitatations. I can make a few manual adjustments (* alternate box office ticket estimate) to the list to improve its accuracy or completeness. As of now, I count eight horror movies released from 2020 through 2026 that likely would exceed the 15 million North American tickets sold. ($150M box office @ $10.00 average ticket price to $187.5M box office @ $12.50 average ticket price) threshold, as well as, a half dozen other films that just miss that threshold and come in just under the 15 million North American tickets sold line.

U.S. inflation rates by year show how consumer prices have changed annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). I have also included the annual ticket price data from Cinema United, formerly known as the National Association of Theater Owners, NATO provides an annual average movie ticket price, each year in April (with a three year lapse of reporting post-COVID).

The table below provides historical U.S. inflation rate data from 2020 through 2026, allowing polltakers to compare yearly inflation levels and roughly peg where the average movie ticket price has been at the beginning of each year since COVID. I used the Cinema United, formerly known as the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) as the preferred source for yearly average ticket prices, and a Consumer Price Index adjusted ticket price for the few post-COVID years they didn't report.

2019 $9.01 1.8% = $9.17 2020 est. ave U.S. movie ticket price (B.O.Y.) NATO $9.16

2020 $9.37 1.2% = $9.57 2021 est. ave U.S. movie ticket price (B.O.Y.) NATO N/A

2021 $9.57 4.7% = $10.02 2022 est. ave U.S. movie ticket price (B.O.Y.) NATO N/A

2022 $10.02 8.0% = $10.82 2023 est. ave U.S. movie ticket price (B.O.Y.) NATO $10.53 

2023 $10.82 4.1% = $11.26 2024 est. ave U.S. movie ticket price (B.O.Y.) NATO $10.78

2024 $11.26 2.9% = $11.58 2025 est. ave U.S. movie ticket price (B.O.Y.) NATO $11.51

2025 $11.58 2.6% = $11.88 2026 est. ave U.S. movie ticket price (B.O.Y.) NATO $12.50

2026 $11.88 3.7% (thru 9 months)

2026 Movie Releases

#Obsession $263,451,715 ($263,451,715/$12.50) 

= 21,076,137 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

#Backrooms $197,523,513 ($197,523,513/12.50)

= 15,801,881 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

Resident Evil $148,459,411 ($148,459,411/12.50)

= 11,876,752.88 North American Tickets Sold

2025 Movie Releases

#Sinners $279,653,537 ($279,653,537/$11.51)

= 24,296,571 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

#The Conjuring: Last Rites $177,753,512 ($177,753,512/$11.51)

= 15,443,398 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

Weapons $151,550,044 ($151,550,044/$11.51)

= 13,166,815 North American Tickets Sold

2024 Movie Releases

#Beetlejuice Beetlejuice $294,100,435 ($294,100,435/$10.78)

= 27,282,044 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

#Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire $196,350,016 ($196,350,016/$10.78)

= 18,214,287 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

Venom: The Last Dance $139,733,580 ($139,733,580/$10.78)

= 12,962,298 North American Tickets Sold

2023 Movie Releases

Five Nights at Freddy's $137,275,620  ($137,275,620/$10.53)

= 13,036,621 North American Tickets Sold

2022 Movie Releases

Nope $123,277,080 ($123,277,080/$10.02)

= 12,303,101 North American Tickets Sold

2021 Movie Releases

#Venom: Let There Be Carnage $212,609,036 ($212,609,036/$9.57

= 22,216,200 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

#Quiet Place Part II $160,072,261 ($160,072,261/$9.57)

= 16,726,464 North American Tickets Sold * alternate box office ticket estimate

Ghostbusters: Afterlife $122,378,960 ($122,378,960/$9.57)

= 12,787,770 North American Tickets Sold

2020 Movie Releases

The Invisible Man $64,914,050 ($64,914,050/$9.37)

= 6,927,860 North American Tickets Sold

@Jessica​ Yes, I didn't use IMDb as the definitive authority on whether it is horror or not, since it only indicates whether a title has been tagged or not with that keyword. I personally classified them based on each horror subgenre and that the film has those elements. I agree a couple of these are judgement calls or could be up for debate, but I do feel confident about every listed horror subgenre and that each film falls into it. Since, alot of these horror films fall into multiple horror subgenres, it is unlikely that a film that could be challenged would fail across every horror subgenre it claims. Plus, I have seen every one of these films myself.

The horror films that I think some may find hard to understand are the ones in Superhero horror subgenre, the Ghostbusters franchise films, Signs, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the horror genre, and excluding the Jurassic Park franchise films, when other science fiction films qualify.

I think unless there is an outside reason, it is hard to exclude one Mummy franchise film, and not include them all, especially when they all have supernatural, occult and monster themes at their core. I also think it wouldn't be unfair to punish the creative team, for being inventive, pushing boundaries, being successful in multiple genres, as well as, purposeful breaking or spoofing established norms.

I found clarity in each horror classification, by determining what horror subgenre each film fit into and whether it had the ingredients to qualify for that classification, rather than just using elements from that subgenre. I think putting the horror subgenre in the notes helps others to understand the logic of why the film is horror. I think what trips up.some people is the fallacy, that a film will fit into a single genre and cannot be multiple things at the same time. I also used AI to find out whether others agreed with my assessments and whether the cases made were justified or not. 

I added ten titles to the larger collective answer pool, moving the combined total from 67 to 77 horror titles. It moved this suggestion beyond the 70 options that could be accommodated by two poll suggestions. Now with three poll suggestions, each poll suggestion list has a little more breathing room, is more managable, and can accommodate future films, as well as, any ommissions due incomplete box office data (early horror films). It is also possible that a horror film that didn't get to fifteen million tickets sold in its first theatrical run, may creep across the threshold with subsequent re-releases.

You could also consider original Beetlejuice.

@Peter_pbn​

Thanks, I checked it. While, I don't disagree the original is the more well-seen of the two 'Beetlejuice' franchise films. I think most of those viewings came outside of theaters. I have Beetlejuice (1988) at about 81,615,500 tickets sold, half of what is required to be included in the answer pool. It did $74,664,632 in domestic box office in 1988, by contrast 'A Fish Called Wanda' did $139,103,153 in domestic box office in 1988 and sold about 15,205,300 tickets. It is scary that the sequel it did almost four times as much box office in North America and six times as much box office globally.

@Peter_pbn​ Corrected, Which select live-action horror film that ranks among the top all-time best-selling horror movies,

@dan_dassow​,

I found the problem in the text of the question, Which select live-action horror film that ranks among the top all-time best-selling horror movies, in the whitespace between the and top ("the top") and corrected it ("the top"). I would think it should not be a problem now.

@urbanemovies​ 

Please correct in the question:

by virtue of selling an estimated 

@Jessica​, corrected.

@urbanemovies​ ,

This produced an Unexpected Error. 🙁

@dan_dassow​ 

Could be the dollar sign ($), but surely we have pushed polls with that character before?