Scream VI started off Friday with $19.3 million, including $5.7 million in Thursday previews, and is on pace for a series-best opening of $43.5 million from 3,675 cinemas domestically. The grosses will be updated early on Sunday.
Thanks to moviegoers between the ages of 18 and 34, the Paramount and Spyglass picture will easily take the weekend box office crown. The film is garnering solid exits and scored a B+ CinemaScore.
The last Scream movie, which debuted at $30 million domestically in January 2022, was a strong performance for the epidemic age. Scream III from 2000 had the highest North American opening ($34.7 million), not accounting for inflation.
The survivors from Scream V head to New York City in Scream VI, which is said to have cost $33 million to produce before marketing. However, Ghostface, a terrifying serial murderer, is not far behind. The directors from Radio Silence Productions, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, and Tyler Gillett, together with Chad Villella, are back.
Along with Dermot Mulroney, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and Samara Weaving, who are franchise newcomers, Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere, and Courteney Cox also feature.
With an anticipated sophomore gross of $26.8 million from 4,007 sites, a reasonable fall of 54%, and enough to cross the $100 million milestone at the domestic box office in just 10 days, MGM and Michael B. Jordan’s Creed III will debut at a strong No. 2. On Friday, the movie made $7.5 million.
Sony’s sci-fi dinosaur film 65, expected to launch in third place with $10 million to $11 million from 3,405 screens after receiving negative reviews and a C+ CinemaScore, is being crushed by both Scream VI and Creed III. The genre film’s Friday box office took in almost $4.5 million. (While Creed III is playing significantly older, all three movies compete for younger consumers.)
65, a film starring Adam Driver as an astronaut who crashes landings on a mystery planet only to discover that he has been marooned on Earth for 65 million years, was written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the authors of A Silent Place. Mills and the only other survivor, played by Ariana Greenblatt, must navigate an undiscovered region filled with dinosaurs and other hazardous ancient creatures in a battle for survival with just one chance for rescue.
The Sony film, which was co-financed by Bron Studios and TSG, reportedly cost $45 million to produce. The previews brought about $1.2 million.
This weekend’s third nationwide release is Focus Features’ uplifting sports comedy Champions, which stars Woody Harrelson as a minor-league basketball coach who is forced by the court to coach a team of players with disabilities. The award-winning Spanish film Campeones, which was distributed by Universal Pictures International in 2018, is the inspiration for the movie.
After making $1.8 million on Friday, Champions is expected to make $5 million over the course of the weekend, according to its A CinemaScore. Almost 60% of ticket buyers were over the age of 35, with 21% being over the age of 55. The film, which is now showing at 3,030 theaters, is projected to come in eighth.
