Scream VI looking to slash franchise-best opening weekend

Scream VI is tracking to have a franchise-best opening, with predictions putting it at $50 million worldwide, just edging out last year’s Scream.

On the domestic front, opening weekend numbers for Scream VI could near $40 million, which would easily surpass any other entry in the franchise. The leader going into Scream VI’s debut is, perhaps surprisingly, 2000’s Scream 3, which took in $34.7 million, debuting at #1. The number two spot goes to, appropriately enough, 1997’s Scream 2 ($32.9 million), while a renewed interest in the series helped put last year’s Scream at number three. The first Scream, was a sleeper hit, debuting with just $6.4 million, but going on to gross a franchise-best $103 million.

If Scream VI can have the strong opening it’s expected to, that not only could indicate it being the third installment to cross the $100 million line domestically, but also show that viewers are ready to move on from the original core cast: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette. Of course, David Arquette’s Dewey Riley was killed off in Scream (2022) and Cox is reprising her role as Gale Weathers, but notably absent is Neve Campbell. Campbell cited pay disparities as her reason for not returning as Scream heroine Sidney Prescott. “I did not feel that what I was being offered equated to the value that I bring to this franchise, and have brought to this franchise, for 25 years…In my soul, I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t walk on set feeling that – feeling undervalued and feeling the unfairness, or lack of fairness, around that.” Bam! Sid! Super bitch!

With a projected $50 million opening, Scream VI would quite easily take the top spot at the box office, as new releases 65 (an Adam Driver-starring sci-fi actioner) and Champions (a sports comedy reuniting Bobby Farrelly and Woody Harrelson) aren’t expected to leave a mark. Creed III–which set its own franchise record–will likely drop.

Will you be seeing Scream VI on opening weekend? Are you already hoping for another Scream movie? Do you think the series will lack going forward without Neve Campbell? Let us know in the comments section below!