The movie "Scream" was produced by Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group.
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This long Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Scream 5 pulled in a box office miracle. The movie made $30.6 million on its opening weekend and $35 million on its second weekend. The opening of Scream 2 in 1997 was $65 million adjusted for inflation, and the opening of Scream 3 in 2000 was $57 million adjusted. It is close to the entire $38 million domestic gross of Scream 4 in 2011. That is strange. In the early 2000s, most audiences didn't care about Scream 3. They didn't pay much attention to Scream 4 in early 2011. I have never seen a major franchise bouncing back without a retcon.
The James Bond series had its highs and lows, but GoldenEye was a very soft remake. 2 Fast 2 Furious and Tokyo Drift were both part of The Fast Saga, but they were not the final two parts of the series. Audiences didn't show up for King of the monsters because they didn't like the film as much as critics did. Kong. Two characters you know and like fighting were in the sequel. It was just another Scream sequel. This relative level of success is unprecedented, as a franchise relaunch mostly occurring because of the rights changing hands, is a straightforward revival.
It is harder than ever when fewer people watch network television/basic cable and non-tentpoles in theaters, so Paramount made sure awareness was high. We got a theatrical trailer, a few television and online spots, and a few things to say about the film. The core hook was a new cast of young/diverse kids getting menaced by a new Ghostface and track down Dewey for help, along with promises that Sidney and Gale would do the same. It helps that the film works for fans of all ages. It earned a B+ from Cinemascore, on par with the other two.
It was good, actually! is a cult status that Scream 4 has accumulated over the last decade. I am not a fan of Emma Roberts and her show, but the generation that saw Scream 4 as teenagers is old enough to drive to the theater and see this new film. This generation thinks of Paramount and Spyglass as the follow-up to the one they like, rather than the follow-up to the one everyone hates or ignores.
It is joined by the likes of Godzilla vs. Scream. It did better in Covid-Times than it would have done in a non-pandemic circumstance. This is as miraculous as Sony's Welcome to the Jungle turning Jumanji from a B-level star-driven 90s hit into an A-level modern franchise. There is a concern that a sequel to a movie that bombed will give Hollywood the kind of false hope that makes a movie like "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" so popular. Paramount will be able to continue their winning streak with Jackass Forever in February, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in April and Top Gun: Maverick in May. Maybe, if this keeps up, they can be more than that.
The movie played mostly males, non-white and 18-34 year olds. $35 million from a $13.3 million Friday is not leggy for an MLK opener, but it is the "horror sequels can be front loaded" factor. The legs of Ride Along or Bad Boys for Life get more money than the legs of Ride Along 2 or Mama. This is a $24 million horror movie with strong post-theatrical potential. When Candyman, A Quiet Place part II and The Conjuring 3 were going to help theaters reopen between Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984, I said that franchise horror is as safe as it has ever been.
It is another sign that moviegoing is safe for franchise-friendly hits. The films that were going to open big before Covid, A Quiet Place part II, F9, Shang-Chi, Venom 2, No Time to Die, Halloween Kills, Spider-Man: No Way Home, etc., have pulled consistently healthy theatrical performances. Kong was overperforming what I might have expected. It is good news for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Batman, and anything else that sticks it out as Omicron plateau before the summer boom. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and Uncharted are coin tosses, just as they were before. The $35 million Fri-Mon debut of Scream is the kind of performance that will give a little false hope to even the questionable franchise titles.
The only film to open against Scream was Belle. Over the long holiday weekend, the animated fable earned over two million dollars in 1,350 theaters. Those who wanted to see Mamoru Hosoda's take on Beauty and the Beast in a theater will get a week or so to do so. I am hoping to see the film with the kids today, but it is just a question of whether we head to the nearest AMC or drive a bit more to the nearest IMAX. I am waiting for RRR to come back up on the release slate so that I can see it in theaters.
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