‘Scream’ Nabs $35 Million Debut In An Unprecedented Box Office Win

Scream (aka Scream 5) pulled something of a box office miracle this long Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. The R-rated slasher movie topped the charts with a robust $30.6 million Fri-Sun/$35 million Fri-Mon domestic debut. Sans inflation, that’s just above the $33 million Fri-Sun opening of Scream 2 ($65 million adjusted for inflation) in 1997 and the $34 million Fri-Sun launch of Scream 3 ($57 million adjusted) in 2000. Heck, it’s just shy of the entire $38 million domestic gross of Scream 4 in 2011. That’s the strange thing. Most audiences didn’t care for Scream 3 ($89 million domestic and $162 million worldwide total aside) in early 2000. And they outright ignored Scream 4 ($38 million/$98 million) in early 2011. In terms of a major franchise bouncing back sans a reboot or a major retcon, I’ve frankly never seen this before.  

Yes, the James Bond series had its highs (Thunderball) and lows (Man with the Golden Gun), but even GoldenEye (following the commercially underwhelming Timothy Dalton duo) was a very soft reboot. Even The Fast Saga offered up a halfway decent sequel (the underrated 2 Fast 2 Furious) and an outright spin-off (the now almost overrated Tokyo Drift) before getting all the original cast back together for the franchise-reviving Fast & Furious. Audiences liked Godzilla less than critics and didn’t show up for Godzilla: King of the Monsters only to comparatively flock to Godzilla Vs. Kong. However, that newbie-friendly sequel had “two characters you know and like fighting.” But Scream was “just another Scream sequel.” In terms of a straightforward revival following a DOA earlier installment, a franchise relaunch mostly occurring because the rights changed hands, this relative level of success is arguably unprecedented. 

As for “what went right,’ Paramount made sure awareness was high, which is harder than ever when fewer people watch network television/basic cable (fewer eyeballs for commercials) and non-tentpoles in theaters (fewer captive viewers for trailers). We got exactly one theatrical trailer and just a few television and online spots, which were spoiler-lite without shrouding the film in mystery. The core hook, a new cast of young/diverse kids (led by Melissa Barrera) get menaced by a new Ghostface and track down Dewey (David Arquette) for help, was offered up along with promises that Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Gale (Courtney Cox) would return to kick ass accordingly. It helps that they had a film that mostly works for fans young and old. It earned a B+ from Cinemascore, on par with Scream 2 and above Scream 3 (B) and Scream 4 (B-).  

One odd variable, and this may help “explain” the unconventional results, is that Scream 4 has accumulated an “It was good, actually!” cult status over the last decade. I’m still not a fan (Emma Roberts’ show stopping third act antics and culturally relevant motivations aside), but the generation that saw Scream 4 as teenagers (either in theaters or on DVD) is old enough to drive to the theater and see this new film theatrically. This generation thinks of Paramount and Spyglass’ Scream as “the follow-up to the one I like” versus “the follow-up to the one everyone hates or ignored.” Scream may be a skewed kind of “breakout sequel” to Scream 4 not unlike how Spider-Man: No Way Home parlayed complicated or just “we liked it when we were kids” feelings over Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man reboot duology into a redemption/vindication narrative. 

Scream joins the likes of Godzilla Vs. Kong, Free Guy, Dune and Spider-Man: No Way Home in that it performed better in Covid-times than it would have in a non-pandemic circumstance. Different sandbox perhaps, but 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 reason for concern that Scream roaring back to life following an outright bomb of a prior installment will give Hollywood the kind of false hope that gets us yet another mega-budget Terminator movie. However, a win is a win. This bodes well for Paramount continuing their pre-Covid winning streak with Jackass Forever in February, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in April and (fingers-crossed) Top Gun: Maverick in May. Maybe, if this keeps up, they can be more than the “House that Paw Patrol built.” 

Scream played 53% male, 54% non-white and 67% 18-34. The “horror sequels can be frontloaded” factor ($35 million from a $13.3 million Friday isn’t exactly leggy for an MLK opener) will brush up against the ”there’s nothing else opening until February” variable. Legs like Ride Along or Bad Boys for Life gets Scream to $97 million, while legs like Ride Along 2 or Mama gets it to $78 million. Regardless, this is a $24 million horror flick with strong post-theatrical potential. As I’ve been saying since April 2020 (when Candyman, A Quiet Place part II and The Conjuring 3 were going to help theaters reopen between Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984), franchise horror is as safe as it’s ever been, due to low budget, a skewing toward young viewers and their value as “cathartic healthy fear” amid terrifying real-world events.

It’s also yet another sign that theatrical moviegoing is safe for preordained 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, with even a few like Dune or Godzilla Vs. Kong overperforming what I might have expected in pre-pandemic times. That’s excellent news for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Batman and anything else that sticks it out as Omicron infections plateau before the expected summer 2022 boom. This still means Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and Uncharted are coin tosses, just as they were in before-times. But Scream pulling a $35 million Fri-Mon debut is exactly the kind of performance to give a little false hope to even the comparatively questionable franchise titles.  

The only film that dared open against Scream was, well, Belle. GKIDS opened the acclaimed and buzzy animated fable in 1,350 theaters over the weekend, where it earned $1.87 million over the long holiday frame. That’s not mind blowing, but those who wanted to see Mamoru Hosoda’s Internet-specific take on Beauty and the Beast in a theater are at least getting a week or so to do so. Correction from yesterday, I am hopefully seeing the film with the kids not yesterday but today, so it’s just a question of whether we head to the nearest AMC or drive a bit more to the nearest participating IMAX. Oh, and India’s Bangarraju will earn around $238,000 this weekend in 278 theaters as I patiently wait for RRR to pop back up on the release slate.