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The poor box office performance of Crimson Peak is discussed by the film’s director. Crimson Peak is a 2015 supernatural horror film directed by Guillermo del Toro, telling the story of what happens when an author is confronted by a mysterious outsider soon after a family tragedy. Crimson Peak features a leading cast including Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, Burn Gorman, and Jim Beaver.

Speaking with Vulture, del Toro discusses the initial response to Crimson Peak. According to the director, Crimson Peak‘s major issue was that it was “sold as a horror movie,” and the publicity was focused on marketing the film to a horror audience during its opening weekend. The director would have preferred that the romance and mystery elements of Crimson Peak be pushed instead of the horror angle. In del Toro’s opinion, Crimson Peak is “a movie that connects with the people who love it” on a profound level. Check out the full quote from del Toro below:

The thing that will always, pun intended, haunt that movie is that it was sold as a horror movie. But I remember distinctly, when we had the meetings [about promotion], they were all targeted toward getting the horror audience for the opening weekend. And I knew we were doomed! I was saying, “You should promote the romance, and you should promote the mystery. The last thing you want to do is promote it as horror.” We were opening in October, and October is the month of Halloween, so I understand why it happened.

But, you know, it’s a movie that connects with the people who love it at an almost molecular level. Little by little, some movies gather their audience through the years. Some others are very successful right when they come out, then you don’t hear from them again. We can have every variation. I’m finding that I’m happier when I’m in a relationship with people who truly find a movie and own it.

There was a resurgence of ghost stories for a couple of decades that was very, very beautiful, with
The Others
;
The Devil’s Backbone
, and
The Orphanage
on my side; the Zemeckis film, and
Stir of Echoes
, and I thought that was great! But,
Crimson Peak
… Gothic was, back then, an almost forgotten genre. I don’t know — when was the last time before that had Hollywood produced a Gothic romance? Decades? I knew I wanted to produce a lavish, beautiful, operatic spectacle, with sets and melodrama and beautiful light and, you know, just make it make it a sort of banquet.

And now I’m thinking about seeing
Civil War
, the Alex Garland movie, getting misinterpreted, even after its characters clearly stated the mission of the movie— “We don’t sanction, we don’t qualify, we just
show,
” right? That’s basically the definition of Garland’s movie! Well, I tried the same thing in
Crimson Peak
by having a character actually saying, “It’s not a ghost story, it’s a story with a ghost in it.” The movie itself was trying to give clues about what it was! And, having done a movie before that used a ghost in a similar manner —
The Devil’s Backbone
— I foolishly thought that my intentions would have been clear.

But you know, it’s okay! You recuperate from it. And that is one of the movies I love the most and that is very close to my heart.

Crimson Peak’s Reception & Box Office Explained

Audiences Were More Mixed Than Critics

Crimson Peak received a very mixed reaction upon its release nearly a decade ago. Crimson Peak‘s critical reviews were decent, getting a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes with nearly 300 reviews. Audiences, however, were far more mixed about the quality of Crimson Peak. The audience rating for the movie came in at 56%. Rotten Tomatoes audiences reflect part of del Toro’s statement, mentioning that the movie was not spooky enough for their horror preferences. Statements like these suggest that marketing Crimson Peak as a romance or mystery could have done the film justice.

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In addition to the lackluster audience response, Crimson Peak also did not do very well at the box office. The film saw a worldwide gross of just over $74 million. While not an abysmal performance on its face, the estimated budget for the film was around $55 million. Adding on the cost of publicity and marketing, Crimson Peak likely did not break even, as most films need at least 2x or 2.5x budget to break even.

As a result, the legacy of Crimson Peak is highly mixed overall. Luckily for the director, del Toro’s career saw a huge recovery after Crimson Peak. His 2017 film The Shape of Water went on to win Best Picture in 2018, and his following cinematic effort, Nightmare Alley, was also nominated for Oscars. 2022’s Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was revered, and won him an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. Even though Crimson Peak suffered at the time of its release, it’s come to be more understood over time.

Source: Vulture