Box Office: Scream carves out a solid number one finish

Ghostface entered the marketplace for the first time in over ten years this weekend and it appears he was clearly missed. Scream scared Spidey from the top of the box office and proved once again that certain genres and films aren’t afraid of that Omicron variant.

Scream grossed $30.6 million over the three-day portion of the weekend and is expected to go as high as $35 million when the MLK Monday figures are factored in. This opening is a return to form for the franchise as the opening isn’t far off from the $32.9 million opening of Scream 2 in 1997 and Scream 3’s $34.7 million debut in 2000. Scream 4 opened to $18.6 million in 2011 and that was considered a disappointment at the time considering all the buzz surrounding its release. So What changed in over ten years? Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group carved out a wicked smart marketing campaign that played into the nostalgia of the franchise while also indicating this was something new and fresh for those who weren’t entirely familiar with the history of the films. The release date was also a smart move as January tends to be known as a month you dumb”bad films” on the release calendar but horror is pretty immune to that notion and sometimes you can sneak in a good movie during this month which allows it to stand out in the best way possible. Scream is certified fresh at 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and it holds an 85% audience score on top of its “B+” CinemaScore from opening night audiences. Even if Scream sees the typical for horror weekend two decline, the film is going to dominate the rest of the month by default because there aren’t any major releases incoming until Moonfall on February 4, 2022. Paramount Pictures was also smart to keep this one cheap with a $24 million budget so it’s already on the road to profitability. Needless to say, it’s a great time to be a Scream fan and this represents another major win for the box office during the pandemic. Scream also got off to a great start internationally with a gross of $18 million from 50 overseas markets which brought its global opening to $48.6 million. To show how fresh the franchise is again, the overseas opening came in 24% ahead of Scream 4’s in 2011 and 57% ahead of Halloween Kills in the same foreign territories.

Falling to second is Spider-Man: No Way Home which grossed $20.8 million in its fifth weekend of release. That’s a decline of 36.2% from last weekend which continues to be a solid hold as it’s clear that repeat business is continuing to fuel its grosses weekend after weekend. The film has grossed $698.7 million domestically and it’s estimated to take in about $704 million by the end of the holiday weekend. If this holds, that would make the film the fourth-highest movie of all time at the domestic box office, topping the $700 million take of Marvel’s Black Panther. Overseas, the film pulled in another $33.4 million to bring its global haul to $1.62 billion.

Sing 2 continues to be a bright spot for families at the box office as it took in $8.2 million this weekend. That’s a drop of 28.6% and that’s a great hold considering the film is already available for home viewing via PVOD. This is why I continue to scratch my head at Disney’s decision to send their Pixar film Turning Red to Disney+ instead of going strictly theatrical in March. It’s clear that families will come out for the right film, even during the pandemic, and Sing 2 has been the film that families want. Sing 2 has grossed $119.3 million domestically and after taking in $8.4 million from 54 overseas markets, the film brings its global haul to $215.6 million.

In fourth place, we find The 355 on life support in weekend two with a gross of $2.4 million. That’s a decline of 49.37% and honestly, it’s a better than expected result for a film I thought would fall off much sharper than that. Universal Pictures probably can’t wait until this heads to PVOD and streaming because that’s where most of its money is going to be made at this point. The 355 has grossed $8.4 million to date at the domestic box office.

Rounding out the top five is The King’s Man with a gross of $2.3 million. That’s a slim decline of 28.05% from the previous weekend which would’ve been better news had the film had a more robust opening back in December. The only good news is that The King’s Man is still in the top five which is something I didn’t think we would see at this point in January. The King’s Man has grossed $28.6 million to date at the domestic box office and after taking in $10.4 million from 44 overseas markets, the film brings its global total to $92.5 million.

What are YOUR thoughts on this weekend’s box office results?