The fact that some of Hollywood’s biggest successes this year — Obsession and Backrooms — are both horror films is yet more proof that the genre is still part of the industry’s financial backbone. As far back as the days of independent hits like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Halloween, unique horror movies have captured the attention of audiences starved for something to push the envelope, and nowadays, the constant stream of superhero movies and high-concept action-comedies aren’t really making the impact that they used to 10 years ago.
The ideal of what a blockbuster is has changed over time, and one of the biggest beneficiaries of that shift has been video game movies. 2026 is a far cry from the embarrassing attempts of the ‘90s and early 2000s; instead of bombs like Doom and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, we now have box office smashes like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and A Minecraft Movie, films that are far from perfect but clearly rewarding to fans of their source material.
