5 Reasons I Believe John Krasinski’s $341M Horror Hit Deserves Same Franchise Status as The Conjuring

John Krasinski proved he could be as good behind the camera as he was in front of it. A Quiet Place, directed by Krasinski, was a horror hit that nobody saw (and heard) coming, grossing $341M at the box office (via Box Office Mojo). The success of the first movie led to an entire horror franchise being created, including three movies in total.

The next film, A Quiet Place Part III, is set to hit theatres on July 9, 2027, with Krasinski attached as a writer, director, and producer. Krasinski and Allyson Seeger’s Sunday Night Productions, which has a first-look deal with the studio, is producing along with Platinum Dunes (via Variety).

Here are five reasons why I believe this franchise deserves the same status as The Conjuring.

1. A Quiet Place Is Critically Acclaimed and Loved by Audiences

A Quiet Place has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 96%, with the critics’ consensus stating:

The second movie was also very well received by critics, standing at a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score. It’s easy to see why the movies are loved by all. Audiences enjoy being scared, and this movie provides the thrills to keep them on the edge of their seats constantly.

Right from the get-go, the movie keeps you hooked and in a quiet place (pun intended). There were a lot of moments that balanced levity with brevity, much like an orchestral piece that incorporates dissonance.

With tight storytelling and intense scenes that get your heart racing, the movies manage to capture the horror of living in a world where speech means death.

2. A Quiet Place Is Revolutionary In Horror Sound Design

Since the films follow a family that has to survive in a world where aliens are hyper sensitive to sound, each noise or word means life or death.

Sounds like the dream/nightmare job for sound designers Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van Der Ryn. In an interview with Motion Pictures, they talk about their approach to crafting the sonic space:

Creating the sound for the film was a very experimental and explorative process. The alien creatures in the film are essentially blind, so it’s with their hyper-acute hearing that they navigate the world through sound. 

They further added,

We wanted to avoid existing animal sounds and for the aliens to be unrecognizable and terrifying, working on the reptilian part of the audience’s brain. 

Much like the sound design, the movie is mixed to perfection. Listening to it in Dolby surround was frightening, and the final stereo mix to watch on your home screen also lives up to the terror. Just make sure there’s no noise to disturb your sonic and visual experience.

Audiences were so frightened by the quietness of the movie that they were reluctant to munch on their popcorn. Multiple fans took to X to talk about their movie-watching experience.

Not surprisingly, A Quiet Place received an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Editing for the supervising sound editors Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn in 2019. The sound editing and Foley, which are usually done in post, are effective tools in creating an organic sound for the characters.

This movie amplifies even the crunching of footsteps and all the tiny details, adding to the flair of danger always being around the corner.

3. A Quiet Place Franchise Has Grossed Close To a Billion Dollars

Every single release, including the spinoffs, has performed well at the box office, raking in millions of dollars.

The first part was released in 2018 and grossed around $340 million worldwide against a budget of only $17 million (via Box Office Mojo). This resulted in a sequel, A Quiet Place Part II, that continued the story of the family’s survival in the post-apocalyptic nightmare.

A Quiet Place franchise has movies that make you want to watch them in the theatres, hopefully without a lousy audience. The hype for the movies was very evident from the trailers Paramount released, and everyone was very curious to see John Krasinski’s career reinvention from being the love-struck Jim Halpert in The Office.

Part 2 of the franchise grossed $297 million, not performing as well as the first one, but still holding strong (via Box Office Mojo). Unfortunately for this movie, COVID did most of the wrecking, and audiences were far too frustrated with the constant postponing.

The spinoff, titled A Quiet Place: Day One, earned a staggering $261 million at the box office despite not having Krasinski and Emily Blunt (via Box Office Mojo). This movie offered a unique take on the universe that I felt was more artistically expressive than its predecessors.

All in all, this puts the total gross of the franchise at just above $900 million, an impressive feat considering only three movies are out.

4. A Quiet Place Is a Cinematic Universe With Strong World-Building

Much like The Conjuring franchise, A Quiet Place has crafted a universe with its scary aliens and humans.

Characters are treated as being more than two-dimensional, and put in scenarios that could be morally compromising. The universe tells a story of humanity at the end of the day, showing us the lengths we would go to protect our friends and family.

A Quiet Place: Day One was a well-developed story within the universe that showcased characters with complex emotions and different ideals. There were moments of levity between the thrilling ride that offered relief and brought a smile to my face. The franchise clearly tells good human stories set in the world, so it will be interesting to see other people respond to this alien threat.

There is also potential to give us more details about the aliens since we know little to nothing about their origin, lending to its cosmic horror. While The Warrens investigate demons and ghosts, this universe does not deal with the supernatural but rather a grounded tale of humans who will do anything to survive.

In an interview with The Post, Michael Sarnoski, director of A Quiet Place: Day One, spoke about the future of the franchise:

Looks like Sarnoski was certainly the right guy for the job, as he placed emphasis on the core elements of the story rather than making it another run-of-the-mill horror movie.

5. A Quiet Place Is Elevated Horror Done Right

A24 revolutionised the horror industry and started the trend of ‘Elevated Horror’, with stories focusing more on the characters rather than cheap thrills.

Elevated horror has become the “it” thing for studios, and I am more than happy to see the focus on quality. Modern storytelling has taken such a commercial element to every facet of the script that you end up seeing rinse-and-repeat versions of movies constantly.

This emergence of elevated horror has proven that at the core of any good horror movie, it isn’t the thrills, it isn’t the jumpscare, it’s the people.

The same can be said for A Quiet Place, which does offer us great thrills but doesn’t compromise on good character arcs. The movie is, at its core, a family movie that explores the dynamics between the characters in scenarios of extreme duress.

In an interview with The Daily Free Press, Krasinski talks about how he received the script weeks after his second daughter’s birth, which led him to connect with the family’s story. He stated:

When he rewrote the script, he focused on making every single part of the film “come back to being a family”. In his eyes, A Quiet Place was actually more family drama than horror film. The horror, Krasinski said, comes from the audience’s emotional attachment to the family.

I couldn’t agree more with that. The family dynamic was well-established with interesting characters who had their own breathing space and life in the film. The parenthood and the struggles that come with raising kids in a dystopic world are really not that different from ours, but I digress.

Here’s all you need to know about A Quiet Place franchise:

With such devotion to the craft of good storytelling, this franchise deserves to be cemented as an iconic one, along with The Conjuring.

Have you seen A Quiet Place? Let us know what you thought in the comments.

All A Quiet Place films are streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.