Irish Evil Dead Rise director celebrates passing $100 million mark at the global box office

Lee Cronin is celebrating his Hollywood debut, Evil Dead Rise, after it hit $115 million at the global box office over the weekend.

The Irish writer-director set a new record for an Irish director at the box office for his latest instalment of the Evil Dead franchise, which was filmed during the pandemic in New Zealand.

After the success of his debut, Irish horror The Hole in the Ground, the Dublin director was tracked down by Evil Dead supremo and filmmaker Sam Raimi.

In an interview with RTÉ last month, Cronin discussed the reception the movie has received so far, “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,” he continued.

"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!"

Although the film’s success has presented Cronin with more opportunities in the US, he hasn’t been vocal about future projects, but has always asserted his desire for plenty of Irish talent involvement.

In the same interview with RTÉ Entertainment, Cronin elaborated on the Irish involvement in his projects thus far.

"It's something I'm super, super proud of," the Dublin director began.

“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," he added.