How Tubi created one of 2024's biggest box office hits

Summary

Terrifier 3 made $90 million at the box office, exceeding all expectations.
The original Terrifier found success on the free streaming service Tubi.
Tubi’s free platform allowed horror fans to discover and support indie horror films.

Horror fans have been living well lately, with hits like Longlegs and Smile 2 proving that audiences will head out to the movie theater and drop their hard-earned cash for some good scares. But one of the most unlikely success stories in horror got its life, not in theaters, but on a free streaming service.

Terrifier 3 earned close to $90 million at the box office during its release in October 2024, shocking industry watchers. The previous entry, Terrifier 2, had been considered a surprise success with just $16 million, so the massive haul of the third entry was hardly expected. Amazing for a series that started with a film that barely had a theatrical release at all.

Instead, the gruesome horror in the original Terrifier found its avid audience on streaming. And not just any streaming service, but the free ad-supported streamer, Tubi.

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What is Terrifier?

Extreme gore with a mischievous smirk

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Terrifier

Release Date: March 15, 2018
Runtime: 86 Minutes
Cast: David Howard Thornton , Jenna Kanell , Samantha Scaffidi , Catherine Corcoran
Director: Damien Leone
Writers: Damien Leone
Sequel(s): Terrifier 2 , Terrifier 3
Budget: $35,000
Studio(s): Epic Pictures Group
Distributor(s): Dread Central Presents

The Terrifier franchise, hailing from writer and director Damien Leone, got its start in a pair of short films centered on the creepy central character Art the Clown. Featured in the 2013 horror anthology All Hallows’ Eve, the scary clown, with his gleeful indulgence in extreme violence, earned fans. Leone upped the ante by putting Art in his own feature, 2018’s Terrifier.

The unrated, independently distributed film drew in horror fans who had heard the buzz about its extreme gore and were eager to see it for themselves.

The movie, which Leone tried to fund on Indiegogo, ended up costing around $35,000 to make. But, it did quite a lot with the money, investing it all into some of the grossest gore effects in movie history. After gaining even more of an audience, Leone launched another, very successful Indiegogo campaign to fund an even more epic sequel, raising over $250,000 for the production.

When Terrifier 2 was released in theaters, it was a surprise sensation. The unrated, independently distributed film drew in horror fans who had heard the buzz about its extreme gore and were eager to see it for themselves. That success led to the even bigger Terrifier 3, whose nearly $90 million box office haul made it one of the biggest horror hits of 2024, beating all expectations.

Terrifier 1 and 2 recap: Catch up on all the gory details before Terrifier 3

With Terrifier 3 hitting theatres, catch up with all the important plot points from the first two films in the series

The Tubi factor

Free — with ads to the rescue

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Tubi

Tubi is a free streaming platform that offers a vast collection of TV shows, movies, and even access to live TV channels. Tubi is available across all major platforms via a dedicated application or via the web.

number of users: 80 million
notable shows: Hemlock Grove , Babylon 5 , Spartacus , Gotham , Columbo
notable movies: Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead , Child’s Play , White House Down , Knives Out , It
Premium Subscription: No
Originals: Yes
Live TV: 200+ channels
Price: Free

The original Terrifier from 2018 was a tiny movie designed for pure horror fans, and as such, it was never likely to get a big theatrical release with a big box office to match. Instead, the film was released on streaming services, including Prime Video. It was also available to rent on Apple TV. But where the movie really found its audience was on Tubi.

A free streaming service was the perfect place for horror fans to discover the brutal joys of Terrifier.

Tubi is a free, ad-supported streaming service with nearly 80 million active users, all taking advantage of the plethora of content on offer at no cost. As it turns out, a free streaming service was the perfect place for horror fans to discover the brutal joys of Terrifier.

Due to the pandemic, it took until 2022 for Leone to get Terrifier 2 finished and released, and in that time, more and more horror fans were learning about Art the Clown and the original Terrifier — thanks to how easy it was to access. Even I finally caught wind of the phenomenon and used Tubi to watch the film before heading out to the theater to see the sequel.

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A monster franchise

Big things often have small beginnings

Bloody Disgusting

Had the original Terrifier been released in theaters and then shown up on some paid streaming services only, it’s very possible it wouldn’t have spawned such a successful franchise. The beauty of Tubi is not only that it’s free, but that it features many similar low-budget films. And while many might not have the special sauce of Leone’s franchise, the service is a perfect place for horror fans to seek out and discover new voices in the genre who are still working with tiny budgets and minimal publicity.

Being on Tubi meant people were able to find Terrifier and watch it easily without paying anything, and the only trade-off was a few ads interspersed throughout. That helped to lay the groundwork for a sequel that would sell out cinemas, and a Christmas-themed third film that would blow the roof off the box office.