Three Horror Hits In A Row Made Sophie Thatcher Into Our Newest Scream Queen

Sophie Thatcher may not quite be a household name, at least not yet, anyway. For horror lovers of the world, however, she has quickly ascended the Hollywood ranks to become one of our modern go-to stars for high-profile genre fare. To that end, Thatcher is now headlining director Drew Hancock’s “Companion,” which /Film’s Chris Evangelista hailed as the first great movie of 2025. Not only is the movie damn good, but it also had a damn fine opening weekend at the box office.

“Companion” opened to an estimated $9.5 million, debuting in second domestically behind the unexpectedly big animated hit “Dog Man” ($36 million), which hails from DreamWorks. Coming in second was by no means a bad thing, though, as Hancock’s twisty sci-fi thriller cost a mere $10 million to make (before marketing). Considering it also pulled in $5.5 million overseas, it’s well on its way to becoming profitable for Warner Bros. It might not be a massive hit, but it’s a hit all the same — and Thatcher is undeniably a modern Scream Queen.

Indeed, the actor is now three for three with her last three theatrical outings, all of which have been in the horror space. That streak started with 2023’s Stephen King adaptation “The Boogeyman,” which made more than $82 million worldwide. That number is all the more impressive when we consider that the movie was very nearly dumped directly to Hulu. Disney and 20th Century Studios were wise to reverse course. More recently, Thatcher co-starred in A24’s acclaimed “Heretic” alongside Hugh Grant. After hitting theaters last November, the film earned $59.7 million worldwide against a very modest $10 million budget.

Thatcher’s latest film centers on a group of friends on a weekend getaway that goes wrong when a subservient robot built for human companionship goes haywire. “Companion” also stars Jack Quaid (“The Boys”), Lukas Gage (“Smile 2”), Megan Suri (“Never Have I Ever”), and Harvey Guillen (“What We Do in the Shadows”), with Zack Cregger of “Barbarian” fame on board as a producer.

Warner Bros. tried to keep as many of the secrets in “Companion” intact as it could while marketing the film, although the campaign focused very, very heavily on Thatcher, who plays the character at the center of the chaos (aka Iris). That helped sell a fair amount of tickets and, given the response, we can expect the film to hold pretty well in the weeks to come. Audiences largely agreed with critics too, with the movie earning a B+ CinemaScore.

Thatcher isn’t leading $1 billion hits or anything like that, but her appeal as a movie star, particularly in the genre space, is unquestionable now. She broke out as the younger Natalie on Showtime’s hit series “Yellowjackets,” and she’s been on a slow but steady rise up Hollywood’s A-list ever since. Don’t get me wrong, her appearance in the “Star Wars” universe in “The Book of Boba Fett” certainly didn’t hurt matters, but it’s the horror crowd that has embraced Thatcher wholeheartedly. She’s truly earned her Scream Queen status.

It’s really only a matter of time now before Thatcher gets pulled into even bigger projects. Maybe she’ll find herself being cast as a key superhero (or villain) in the Marvel or DC Universe. Or maybe she’ll end up headlining a major entry in a pre-existing horror franchise. (Zach Cregger is working on a “Resident Evil” reboot, after all.) Whatever the case, Thatcher’s status as a star who can reliably help anchor a mid-sized success isn’t going to go unnoticed. Onward and upward.

“Companion” is currently playing in theaters.