AlthoughMCU’slatest win,Spider-Man: No Way Home,ruled the box office for a while now, the crown has now fallen upon Paramount and Spyglass' reboot of the iconic slasher franchiseScream, once again proving that nostalgia can ensure a box office win. While theatrical releases continue to struggle amidst the revived pandemic and the rise of the Omicron variant,Screambecame the box office top earner this weekend. The iconic slasher reboot took in $30.6 million over the weekend, whileSpider-Man: No Way Homeearned $26 million.
Screamis a self-described “requel” that is both the fifth film in the franchise anda reboot introducing a new, younger cast. The film has gone on to top all the other releases over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Paramount forecasts that it will total $35 million, including Monday’s grosses. It is set to earn huge profits, as the film cost about $24 million to make, but earned another $18 million in 50 international markets.
One of the major reasons behind the massive success ofScreamis perhaps the nostalgia factor, which also drove the third film in the MCUSpider-Manfranchise towards its win. Fans lost their mind after seeing Andrew Garfield and the OG Spidey Tobey Maguire sharing the screen with the lovable new-gen Spider-Man Tom Holland. Similarly,Screamhas been one of the iconic franchises in the world of slasher-horror, and is a huge milestone in the world of pop culture.
Another reason why it did so well is that this is the first return ofScreamto the silver screen in a decade, with the last release in the series being that ofScream 4back in 2011. If Paramount’s projections for the film prove true,Screamwould compare favorably to other recent horror sequels at the domestic box office, including the $49.4 million debut for Universal’sHalloween Killsand the $47.5 million opening for Paramount’sA Quiet Place Part II. The earnings also marked an improvement for the franchise, asScream 4opened to a softer $19.3 million, ultimately landing at a $38.2 million final gross.
All of our traditional measures were indicating a solid opening, but as I kept telling people: We’re still in this thing [the pandemic] and it’s very difficult to determine what will actually happen… Now we’re open, people have seen the movie and we’re off and running. Hopefully this becomes another building block toward building the business back and getting it back to some semblance of normalcy.
However, while dethroned,Spider-Man: No Way Homestill continues to rise in the record books.
