The video-on-demand release date for The First Omen has been announced. The horror prequel, which is set in the 1970s, stars Nell Tiger Free as a young novitiate named Margaret Daino who moves to an Italian convent that specializes in serving children and pregnant women, where she begins to suspect that something is terribly amiss. Despite strong reviews that earned the movie a Certified Fresh 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie struggled to succeed at the box office, eventually earning $52.5 million against its $30 million budget.

As the First Omen theatrical release draws to a close, 20th Century Studios has announced the official date that the horror movie will hit VOD. It is set to premiere on digital platforms including Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home on May 28, which is the day after Memorial Day in the U.S. This will be followed by a Hulu streaming release on May 30 and a physical media debut on July 30 on the Blu-ray and DVD formats.

Will The First Omen Find Success On VOD?

The Horror Movie Came Close To Turning A Profit In Theaters

The new movie could use a boost on VOD in spite of the fact that, as far as the raw numbers go, the First Omen box office performed quite well. At the time of writing, it is the 18th highest-grossing movie of the year, and the second highest-grossing horror movie behind the Blumhouse movie Night Swim, which comes from the producers of their smash hit M3GAN and is currently just one spot ahead, at No. 17. Below, see how the prequel stands among the Top 5 major horror releases of 2024 so far:

In spite of this, The First Omen is likely still in the red. Its reported $30 million production budget means that its break-even point was likely $60 million without factoring in the cost of marketing. Despite earning the only Fresh score for the Omen movies since the 1976 original, the movie was not quite able to hit that mark. This is likely due to several factors, but one important one may have been the movie Immaculate, which premiered just two weeks earlier and boasts an extremely similar premise following an American novitiate moving to an Italian convent and becoming pregnant.

As Immaculate already hit VOD on April 16, this late May digital release for the newer movie may allow it more room to breathe and find an even bigger audience, pushing its overall earnings into the black. Strong The First Omen reviews could very well help its prospects, as could the fact that there are no new major horror movies premiering in theaters in the weeks following its arrival until Watchers debuts on June 14. With less competition in its way, it could turn its strong but below-expectations gross into a pure profit.

Source: 20th Century Studios