Horror is having another monster year. To this point, domestic horror ticket sales have reached about $1.17 billion(as of Q3 2026), topping all of 2017's tally.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) also expects Halloween spending to hit $13.5 billion this year, with 42% of the individuals surveyed planning to watch scary movies as part of their activity roster. Despite this, the way the industry judges whether a scare actually landed hasn't changed much, relying mostly on exit polls, star ratings or reviews written after the credits roll.
