We’re long past the point of being shocked when a dormant property ends up being resurrected and sent back to screens big or small with a new creative team in place, but the most surprising thing by far about Evil Dead Rise was just how successful it’s proven to be on every conceivable level.
Originally destined for a streaming-only release on Max, Lee Cronin’s stab at taking on the Necronomicon was upgraded to theaters, and responded in kind by coming close to cracking $150 million at the global box office on a budget of less than $20 million, all while enjoying the best reviews the iconic franchise had seen since Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi were in their heyday.
In between the original trilogy, the 2013 hybrid of sequel, remake, and reimagining doubled down on gore, before the comedic roots were leaned into heavier than ever before on Campbell’s return to the fray as Ash in the eponymous TV series of the same name that pitted the grizzled veteran against the Deadites once again.
Nobody really needed another Evil Dead movie in their lives, but after they got it, it turns out we might just have needed it all along. There’s no doubt sequel talks bubbling away on the back burner at Warner Bros. headquarters, but for the time being, Rise is solidifying its status as a runaway success story by becoming one of the biggest hits the entire on-demand circuit has to offer.
Per FlixPatrol, as well as being a new addition to Netflix’s worldwide watch-list, the nerve-jangling supernatural nightmare is also a resident of the charts on home platform Max, iTunes, Google Play Movies, and Rakuten. Conquering five streamers at once is no mean feat, and just goes to show how audiences both at home and the multiplex have welcomed Evil Dead Rise into their nightmares.