The sixth installment in slasher franchise is on course to top the weekend box office chart with $43.5 million or more domestically for Paramount and Spyglass.
‘Scream VI’
Everett
Scream VI looks to scare up a series-best opening of $43.5 million from 3,675 theaters at the domestic box office after starting off Friday with $19.3 million, including $5.7 million in Thursday previews. Grosses will be updated Sunday morning.
The Paramount and Spyglass film — which is earning strong exits and received a B+ CinemaScore — will easily win the weekend, thanks to moviegoers between the ages of 18 and 34.
The last Scream film, released in January 2022, opened to $30 million domestically in an impressive showing for the pandemic era. The biggest North American start of the franchise belongs to 2000’s Scream 3 ($34.7 million), not adjusted for inflation.
Scream VI, which cost a reported $33 million to make before marketing, follows survivors of last year’s installment as they leave Woodsboro for New York City. Unfortunately, the menacing killer Ghostface isn’t far behind. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who run Radio Silence Productions with Chad Villella, returned to direct.
Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox star alongside franchise newbies Dermot Mulroney, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra and Samara Weaving.
MGM and Michael B. Jordan’s Creed III will come in a strong No. 2 with an estimated sophomore gross of $26.8 million from 4,007 locations for a respectable decline of 54 percent and enough to jump the $100 million mark in just 10 days at the domestic box office. The film grossed $7.5 million on Friday.
Both Scream VI and Creed III are stomping all over Sony’s sci-fi dinosaur pic 65, which is looking at a third-place opening of $10 million to $11 million from 3,405 theaters after getting pummeled by bad reviews and a C+ CinemaScore. The elevated genre pic grossed roughly $4.5 million on Friday. (All three films are vying for younger moviegoers, although Creed III is playing slightly older.)
Directed by A Quiet Place writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, 65 stars Adam Driver as an astronaut who crash-lands on a mysterious planet, only to realize that he has become marooned on Earth 65 million years ago. With just a single opportunity for salvation, Mills and the sole other survivor, played by Ariana Greenblatt, must traverse an uncharted landscape infested with dinosaurs and other dangerous prehistoric beasts in a struggle for survival.
The Sony pic cost a reported $45 million to make and was co-financed by Bron Studios and TSG. It earned $1.2 million in previews.
The third nationwide release this weekend is Focus Features’ heartwarming sports comedy Champions, starring Woody Harrelson as a minor-league basketball coach who is court-ordered to manage a team of disabled players. The movie is based on the 2018 award-winning Spanish film Campeones, which was released by Universal Pictures International.
Champions earned an A CinemaScore and is looking at a weekend gross of $5 million after earning $1.8 million on Friday. More than 60 percent of ticket buyers were over the age of 35, including 21 percent over 55. The movie, playing in 3,030 theaters, is looking at a seventh-place finish.
