Are Audiences Sick of ‘Eat the Rich’ Movies?
Two new horror comedies cast rich elites as satanic (and worse)
“They Will Kill You” sounds harsh, but the horror-comedy’s real target isn’t snowflake viewers.
It’s the rich.
Again.
You know, the people we see on Oscar night, endless red carpet galas and US Weekly spreads. No, it’s not just the oil barons and legal eagles making all the money.
A-list movie stars do quite well, thank you.
Yet Hollywood keeps force feeding us “eat the rich” tales, hoping we’ll revive that Occupy Wall Street vibe or perhaps turn on the Mogul in Chief?
Not so fast.
The critical and financial results have been mixed, at best. The standouts include 2019’s “Parasite” and 2022’s “The Menu,” tall tales that took the affluent to task without sacrificing creativity.
“The Menu” grossed a respectable $38 million stateside and told a wildly original tale brimming with danger and mystery. The Oscar-winning “Parasite” scored $53 million at US theaters, but it had tremendous awards season publicity at its back.
Lately, we’re growing bored of the genre. The 2023 film “Saltburn” had a buzzy cast, including Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan, but it still netted just $11 million stateside. The celebrated 2022 satire “Triangle of Sadness” laid on the “eat the rich” motifs with glee.
And, once again, the U.S. film receipts proved paltry – $4.6 million (versus $21 million internationally)
More recent “eat the rich” films have fared just as poorly.
The 2025 misfire “Opus” followed a wealthy, reclusive singer (John Malkovich) who uses his fame to bend the wills of everyone around him. It skewers celebrityhood, wealth and journalistic ethics (or lack thereof). Once again, audiences stayed away (an anemic $2 million bounty).
“Death of a Unicorn,” a genre mashup featuring two prime players – Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega – crashed last year with a $12 million haul. The story found the stars fighting a billionaire eager to leverage unicorn blood for profit.
The films in question pulled nary a punch against their hoity-toity targets. My, aren’t those uber-rich types the worst? And we just got two more of ’em.
The 2019 surprise “Ready or Not,” featuring a bride getting to know her wealthy in-laws, made $28 million in 2019. The sequel, “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” couldn’t build on that film’s goodwill and will be lucky to match that total in a more horror-friendly landscape.
Those films imagine a society of Satan-worshipping elites eager to conquer the world.
Need even more jabs at the rich and wealthy? Try “They Will Kill You,” which opened against little new competition on Friday. The film is limping to a $5 million haul on nearly 2,800 screens.
The story? A young woman (Zazie Beetz) applies to be a housekeeper at a swanky building only to run into a Satanic cult oozing with cash and cruelty.
The Hollywood Reporter shares a line uttered at the very end of the film by a survivor of the melee … “Rich people.”
Rich people, indeed, in an industry where an actor fresh off his Oscar win will demand a bigger payday, and movies like “The Adventures of Cliff Booth” strain under the salaries of its high-profile talent.
We used to admire rich and glamorous movie stars. Now, they often tell tales meant to mock the 1 percent. Can somebody get them a mirror, stat?
Someone should make a movie about those Hollywood-sized egos cashing huge paychecks. Maybe that would bring people back to theaters.