This Overlooked Horror Film Has Become a Box Office Success

The Adam Scott horror film Hokum has become a surprise box office success, overperforming since its debut. Written and directed by Damian McCarthy, who is known for smaller but critically successful movies like 2020’s Caveat and 2024’s Oddity, this Neon production released on May 1, 2026. That’s the same day that The Devil Wears Prada 2 came out and just a week after Michael made headlines with its incredible opening numbers. Between all of the spring blockbusters and horror flicks this month, including Obsession and the upcoming Backrooms, the film has flown under the radar but has still managed to succeed due to its frugal budget. Hokum follows American author Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) who visits a hotel in Ireland to lay his parent’s ashes and attempt to finish his book trilogy, but he soon learns that a room in the hotel is haunted by a witch.

Adam Scott’s Hokum has overperformed at the box office

The horror thriller Hokum, as of May 22, has earned about $21 million worldwide so far, with $15.4 million coming domestically and $5.6 million coming overseas, per Box Office Mojo. It earned $6.4 million in its opening weekend and has continued to perform well over the three weeks past its release.

Right before the film released at the beginning of May, analytics site BoxOfficeTheory believed that Hokum would only earn $5.7 million in its domestic opener, while Box Office Pro projected that it would bring in a smaller haul of $3 million to $5 million. The latter site points out that Neon, which has the reputation of distributing mid-sized films that receive high marks from critics, has previously done well with other budget horror flicks, such as Cuckoo ($3 million domestic opener), Immaculate ($5.3 million), Shelby Oaks ($2.3 million), and Keeper ($2.5 million). So Hokum’s $6.4 million domestic start has landed on the higher end of Neon’s typical horror releases.

As reported by Deadline, Hokum had a mere $5 million budget, which is relatively modest for a wide-release film. Since the standard guideline is that films need to make 2.5 times its budget to make a profit at the box office, it only had to cross the $12.5 million mark to be considered a cinematic success. And fortunately, the movie has already reached this milestone in less than a month. This bodes well for McCarthy, whose two prior feature films Caveat and Oddity had much smaller debuts.

Hokum has received very strong reviews from critics, earning a “Certified Fresh” 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (as of May 22). Audiences were impressed with the film as well, giving it an 83%. It has similarly favorable scores on Metacritic, where it holds a solid 76 average from critics and a 7.3 score from users. These positive reactions aren’t too much of a surprise given that Neon is known for picking films which typically become a part of the conversation for award season.

In an interview with ComingSoon’s Brendon Schreur, Scott revealed that he was drawn to Hokum because of Damian McCarthy. “I mean, I really wanted to work with him,” the Parks & Recreation actor said. “I was a huge fan of Oddity — I just thought it was a really exciting, new way of expressing horror, if that makes sense?” He was impressed with the script too, saying that the character was something new for him and that the screenplay was “new structure-wise for the protagonist of a horror movie.”

Meanwhile, McCarthy knew that after Oddity found an audience, he would have a chance to make the film he’s always wanted to create. The director said, “It’s the first movie that gives me the chance to work with an American cast to come to Ireland. It bridges those two things that I love: making films and Ireland.”

It’s expected that Hokum will find a digital release in June, since Neon tends to make its movies available within 45 days of their release.

Source: Comingsoon.net