Irish writer-director Lee Cronin is celebrating after his Hollywood debut Evil Dead Rise went over $100 million to hit the $115 million mark at the global box office over the weekend.
The Dubliner has now set a new record for an Ireland-born writer-director at the box office with his acclaimed instalment of the legendary franchise, which was filmed in New Zealand during the pandemic.
Cronin was headhunted for the job by Evil Dead supremo Sam Raimi after the success of his debut film, the Irish horror The Hole in the Ground.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment last month about the reaction to Evil Dead Rise, Cronin said: "Whenever I'd come up with some of the madcap ideas that are in the movie, I'd always see how far I could push those, how far I could take them. And in a weird way, there's no such thing as too far in a movie like this!
"But what's nice about when you push those things really far, they actually start to become very entertaining for people. One of my greatest pleasures with this movie is that people actually walk out with a smile on their face! They're talking intently about the experience they've just had.
"So yes, it is a scary horror movie, but it's an audience participation movie that people can really come together and have a bonkers experience!"
Cronin's Evil Dead Rise success has opened more doors for him in the US, but although he is staying tight-lipped about his future projects, there is one element that he is very vocal about - plenty of Irish talent will be involved.
One of the biggest surprises in a movie full of them is the number of Irish people behind the scenes on Evil Dead Rise.
"It's something I'm super, super proud of," Cronin told RTÉ Entertainment.
"Obviously, my producers that I've worked with on my previous work and have longstanding relationships with (Macdara Kelleher and John Keville), I was able to bring them aboard this movie as well and they could play a really important part. My first assistant director, Daire Glynn, travelled across to New Zealand with me - that was the two boyos rocking up to work with all the Kiwis! We had a really amazing experience over there.
"And then I was really happy I was able to bring all of the post-production back to Ireland and work with my composer Stephen McKeon and then so many good artists basically across the board, from visual effects to the colouring and the finishing of the movie. There were many, many, many, many people from Ireland and it's great.
"I always enjoy that part in the credits when I see the Irish crew. It's something I want to keep doing in my career, which is to make Hollywood movies but to be able to bring them home and work with talent, because I'm proud of where I'm from and there's so many talented people there to work with."
