SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Refresh for more analysis and chart…We can complain about Omicron, but I wouldn’t necessarily complain that the variant is spoiling the box office as Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream had a robust first day of $13.3M on its way to a $31.5M 3-day and $36M 4-day at 3,664 theaters. That 4-day beats Mama, the previous high opening for a horror movie over MLK, and overall Scream‘s 3-day isn’t far from its previous sequel opening highs, Scream 2 which did $32.9M back in 1997 and Scream 3 which made $34.7M back in 2000. A great start to 2022 for Paramount on the big screen. EntTelligence box office analytics firm reports that 1M people have watched Scream so far, including 250K from Thursday night previews.
Scream received a B+ CinemaScore with PostTrak audiences giving it a 79% positive and a 61% recommend. The pic played best in the East, West, and South Central, with twenty locations we hear grossing a $25K+ first day, which is very good. Audience leaned 56% male, with close to 80% under 34 years old, indicating that the movie is appealing toward a younger generation. The largest demo was 25-34 year olds at 36%. Diversity draw was 38% Caucasian, 36% Latino and Hispanic, 14% Black, & 12% Asian/other. Scream is still being released in Canada theatrically even though cinemas are shuttered in the Quebec and Ontario provinces.
Sony will be reporting their figures soon, but many see Spider-Man: No Way Home clicking past $705M after the holiday weekend, which would make it the 4th highest movie of all time at the domestic box office, besting Black Panther‘s $700M.
Gkids GKIDs’ Belle posted $727K last night at 1,326 theaters. The outlook for the Mamoru Hosoda directed and Studio Chizu animated movie is $1.55M over 3-days and $1.9M over 4-days. Belle played best in the West and Mountain regions and notched an 86% audience score on PostTrak with a 63% recommend. Men were dominant at 55% with 83% under 34 years old and the biggest demo being 25-34 at 39%. Critics loved Belle at 95% Certified Fresh with the diversity draw being 39% Caucasian, 30% Asian/other, 19% Latino and Hispanic and 12% Black.
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FRIDAY AM UPDATE: Paramount-Spyglass Media’s Scream made $3.5M from Thursday night previews that began at 7 p.m. at roughly 3,000 theaters.
That’s a healthy take for a horror movie during the pandemic, pacing behind Halloween Kills and A Quiet Place PArt II‘s Thursday nights, which were $4.8M each, and not too far behind pre-pandemic MLK weekend thriller Glass, which did $3.7M in 2019. Glass saw a three-day of $40M, but don’t go comping Scream to that M. Night Shyamalan title yet, given the erratic moviegoer attendance during the pandemic.
Jenna Ortega in “Scream.” Paramount The reboot-sequel directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett arguably is the only marquee draw until Feb. 4, along with whatever remaining dollars Spider-Man: No Way Home rakes in; that’s when Lionsgate has Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall and Paramount has Jackass Forever. The hope is that Scream, with a Rotten Tomatoes fresh critics score of 76% and audience score of 90%, can screech past anything in the $20M over four-days. That would be a nice start over the holiday in a pandemic marketplace; the highest opening over MLK weekend for a horror movie being Universal’s Mama, which did $32.1M in 2013. The biggest opening for a horror movie during the pandemic belongs to Universal/Blumhouse/Miramax’s Halloween Kills, which did $49.4M back in October. That was with a day-and-date Peacock in-home availability built in, but also when more blockbusters were back-to-back in cinemas. Halloween Kills fell short of $100M with $92M stateside.
Paramount and Spyglass Media co-financed Scream at $24M before P&A.
In addition last night, Paramount held a Scream Opening Night Fan Event at select theaters nationwide, which featured a live Q&A with actor David Arquette, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett and Scream executive producer and creator Kevin Williamson, as well as a pre-taped talent intro and extended bonus content featuring the new cast with behind-the-scenes footage. That event took place at 5 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. CT and 8 p.m. ET at participating theaters.
Sony Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home took in $2.1M on Thursday at 4,012 theaters, -4% from Wednesday taking its cume through the end of week 4 to $677.95M. The Jon Watts-directed movie will become the fifth-highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office today, passing 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, which counts $678.8M. Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther ranks as the fourth-biggest movie stateside with $700.4M.
In second place was Illumination/Universal’s Sing 2 with an estimated $555K on Thursday, +3%, for a running total through the end of Week 3 of $111M.
The other wide release this weekend is Gkids’ Belle at 1,300 locations. The movie opened Wednesday in 130 theaters, has expanded to 995 sites and counts a two day total of $335K. Pic will play in 40 Imax auditoriums this weekend as well as venues such as The Landmark in LA, BAM in NYC and The Roxie in San Francisco.
