in comparison to superhero movies, have carried on performing on the big screen. the forever purge, the fifth in the dystopian series, made its $18 million budget back already, three times over. john krasinski's a quiet place part ii has so far made $200 million globally. so has another horror franchise, the conjuring: the devil made me do it, produced byjames wan. another horrorfilm he has directed, malignant, is due out shortly. there are also high hopes for tom hardy's venom horror—comedy superhero sequel. it seems a thrill of imagined fear is one collective experience audiences still crave. given the collective trauma we have all been through in recent months, is there a cathartic nature to this kind of horror? oh, 100%. i think horrorfilms, when you look at them decade to decade, you completely understand what everyone was anxious about in that time.