The Substance (2024)
Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
The Kernel take
A 78 Kernel Score ("Generally Favorable," 86/11/4 spread) reflects strong if not unanimous critical support for The Substance. On an $18M budget it grossed $77.3M worldwide, about 4.3× budget — a strong specialty-horror result driven by buzz and awards attention rather than just a genre swing that broke even.
Director track record: Coralie Fargeat
The Substance's 78 falls just short of Coralie Fargeat's only other feature in this sample, Revenge (81) — both land in a similarly strong range across her two films.
Lead track record: Demi Moore
The Substance's 78 is far above Demi Moore's 48.5-point average across these 21 films — by a wide margin the best-reviewed role of her career in this sample.
Box office
Budget $18M · Box office $77.3M
A -35.8% second-weekend drop is a solid hold for a specialty horror title, and the resulting 5.5× domestic multiplier over the first six weekends of data available points to strong staying power for The Substance well past its opening frame.