Paramount’s Scream VI is punching above its weight at the box office, and easily knocking out last week’s champion Creed III from the top spot. The sixth film in the iconic horror series grossed $19.3 million on Friday , and is expected to deliver a franchise-best $43 million opening weekend. This is higher than the $35 million to $40 million that the film was projected to open between heading into its debut weekend.
Scream VI’s $19.3 million Friday is bigger than the entire opening weekend of 2011’s Scream 4. Last year’s fifth Scream film grossed $13.3 million on its opening day, on its way to a $30 million weekend. The previous top weekend grosser in the long-running series was 2000’s Scream 3, which opened to $34 million. The first Scream finished with a $173 million worldwide haul, and Scream 2 ended its global run with $172 million.
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY Directed by the last film’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, also known collectively as Radio Silence, Scream VI opened to largely positive reviews. The film’s box office performance suggests that fans are still interested in the series, which sets itself apart from other horror franchises with its meta commentary on the film industry, and tongue-in-cheek tone.
The week’s two other new releases — Sony’s science-fiction dinosaur movie 65, and Focus Features’ sports comedy Champions — are looking at low openings. While 65 is eyeing a $10 million debut weekend after $4.5 million on Friday, Champions is looking to finish its first weekend with around $5 million, after $1.8 million on Friday. Elsewhere, holdover releases Cocaine Bear and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are neck-and-neck with around $1.7 million each on Friday.
Scream VI will likely surrender the top spot next week to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the latest entry in the perennially evolving DC Extended Universe. You can watch our interview with Scream VI directors Radio Silence here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.