Landing in cinemas in the middle of September, HIM looked primed to battle it out at the worldwide box office just in time for Halloween. Centred on an up-and-coming quarterback, the trailers emphasised the superb turn from Marlon Wayans, and it promised to show a gritty, dark, and stylistic take on sporting fame and legacy.
Even though the studio and trailers prominently featured Jordan Peele’s name — one of the film’s producers — to attract attention, HIM struggled to gain traction. The premise was fresh, but a $6.4 million lopening day and $27.5 million worldwide box office rendered it a flop.
Trailers often play a key role in a film’s box office performance, and HIM’s appeared promising. So, was it perhaps the relatively niche – globally speaking – sport of focus that held back the sports-horror flick?
American Football and the Box Office
The US is the largest entertainment market in the world, ranking as the place where entertainment products can and do earn the most money. Blockbuster movies that make it big tend to earn more in the US than in any other country, and similarly, the sports market – a relative of entertainment media – is also a global colossus.
American football is a notable example, with estimates suggesting around 400 million fans globally, but the vast majority of them are in the US. Despite this, four of the top ten most valuable sports teams in the world are NFL teams. On top of this, all of the top 12 most valuable teams are based in the US.
This spills out into adjacent markets, especially now that many states in the massive country now permit sports betting. In February 2025, it was estimated that Americans would bet $1.4 billion on Super Bowl LIX. This equates to an average of approximately $4.12 per American in sports betting activity.
Of course, people around the world, from Canada to Nigeria, will place a sport bet on the much-hyped final game of the NFL season. Despite global interest in the NFL, international audiences didn’t significantly contribute to HIM’s box office performance. However, The Blind Side ($309m), Jerry Maguire ($274m), The Longest Yard ($191m), and The Waterboy ($186m), to name a few, all did well despite the sport of focus
A Niche Take, but Writing Ultimately Failed HIM
HIM’s target audience will have likely been people with an interest in the sport, so it will have relied on US audiences. However, the trailers didn’t exactly promise to show the sport in the best light. It could be argued that this was bad for marketing, given that even Concussion with Will Smith only went for $35 million domestically and $50 million worldwide.
Additionally, horror films often face challenges in achieving strong box office results, and maybe expectations should have been fairly low. Even so, HIM, at the time of writing, had only collected $25 million at home and $2.5 million internationally. Ultimately, however, this boils down to word of mouth not helping to give it a much-needed boost.
HIM begins with intriguing oddities, quite an endearing lead, a captivating mentor, plenty of hard-hitting metaphorical sets that relay the underlying points of the story, and a distinct and grisly aesthetic approach. While the film builds suspense and intrigue, some critics felt the finale lacked subtlety and resolution.
There is something very captivating about the premise and the potential story of HIM, and while the work on-screen certainly tried to elevate it to great heights, the writing failed those efforts. Ultimately, the sport featured may not have been the deciding factor, as audience feedback focused more on the story’s execution.
