2026 has been a landmark year for horror films, with movies like Obsession and Backrooms becoming pop culture phenomena that have defeated major franchises like Star Wars at the box office. That said, not every horror film was released this year; in fact, horror sequels seem to be having a harder time of things, as highly-anticipated franchise horror films crashed at the box office.
Evil Dead Burn is only doing modestly well ($28 million on a $20 million budget), while 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple could only muster $58.5 million against a $60+ million budget. But both of those cases pale in comparison to what happened with Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, the horror-comedy sequel to the 2019 film Ready or Not.
As of writing this, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is sitting in the No. 1 spot in Hulu’s “Top 10 Movies” rankings and No. 3 for “Top 10 Overall” on the streaming service, after 12 days of release. On Hulu’s sister service, Disney+, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come sits at No. 2 in the rankings for “Top Movies on Disney+”.
That’s a pretty strong testament to how much viewers are enjoying Ready or Not 2, and how criminally overlooked the movie was when it was released in theaters back on March 20th. It really is a strange case: the first Ready or Not made $57.6 milllon on a budget of just $6 million.
Ready or Not (2019) helped propel the director duo known as “Radio Silence” (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett) to a whole new level in their careers; the duo went on to direct two successful film in the rebooted Scream franchise (Scream 5 and Scream 6), but inevitlably hit a wall when their star Melissa Barrera was fired from the Scream franchise by the studio, and Radio Silence followed her out the exit door
Since then, success has been hard to find: Radio Silence’s 2024 vampire-horror film Abigail (starring Barrera) brought them back down to the level of cult-hit horror filmmakers (earning $43 million on a $28 million budget). Ready or Not 2 continues that trend, earning $42 million against a budget of $14 million. However, these streaming results for the sequel are a promising sign that horror fans still like the work Radio Silence is putting out; now they just need a theatrical film with enough draw to get them back where they should be.
…Maybe Scream 8?
If you haven’t watched Ready or Not (2019), absolutely do that. That film should easily answer the question for you as to whether or not the sequel is worth checking out. But if you ask me, the answer to that is also a resounding “yes.”
Ready or Not 2 picks up right where the first film leaves off. SPOILERS: Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) survives her night of survival-horror, being hunted by her fiancé and his wealthy elitist family, as part of their ancient pact with a demonic entity known as “Mr. Le Bail.” However, the moment that Grace brought down the Le Domas family, she triggers some ancient rituals and protocols within “The Council” that the Le Domas family belonged to. The five other families gather to compete for the “High Seat” of the Council by hunting Grace, with Grace’s estranged little sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) being forced into the game alongside her.
Ready or Not 2 leans into the comedy aspect of the series even more so than the first film, with Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton proving ot be much more dynamic as an onscreen duo. The film also has a much more fun ensemble than the first film, including Sarah Michelle Gellar (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Buffy) and Shawn Hatosy (The Faculty) playing evil siblings Ursula and Titus Danforth, director David Cronenberg as their father, Chester Danforth, Elijah Wood (Maniac) as “The Lawyer,” Mr. Le Bail’s spokesman, with Néstor Carbonell (The Dark Knight), Kevin Durand (Lost, The Strain), Olivia Cheng (Warrior), Varun Saranga (Wyonna Earp) and others all playing the members of the five families.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is streaming on Hulu-Disney+. Discuss horror with us on the ComicBook Forum!
