When Jordan Peele’s Get Out was released in early 2017, he was an unlikely prospect to be one of the most influential and successful horror directors currently working. He had found huge success in sketch comedy, first as an ensemble member of MadTV and as a star of Comedy Central’s smash hit series Key & Peele, but his film resume had been limited to voice roles in movies like Captain Underpants and starring in the Key & Peele vehicle Keanu that, despite the duo’s previous success, barely did better than break even.
And now, according to a report in horror blog Bloody Disgusting, Peele just hit the $100 million mark at the box office for the third time in a row with his third directorial outing, Nope.
Back in the late 2010’s, it seemed unlikely that a comedy star like Peele would choose, for his directorial debut, to write and direct a darkly satirical update on the ‘70s horror classic The Stepford Wives. And yet, Peele’s meditation on racism in America struck a chord with an audience that had begun to grapple with the issue, confronting it head-on in a serious way, and came to see the audience in droves, driving it to a $255 million box office on a $4.5 million budget and earning Peele an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Since then, Peele has followed the film with the blockbuster 2019 horror film Us, earning $255 million on a $20 million budget. And now with his latest Nope still in theaters, Jordan Peele has seen his third straight film reach the $100 million dollar mark. With a $68 million dollar budget, and a separate marketing budget not accounted for, it remains to be seen if Nope will achieve the same level of profitability as his previous two outings, but so far, Peele has managed to earn nine-figure box office returns without the benefit of working within a recognizable IP.