Ever since Spider-Man: No Way Home came out in mid December it has easily fought off its competition that included the likes of The King’s Man and Matrix: Resurrections to remain king of the box office for 4 straight weeks. However, it looks like Spidey is going to need more to defend himself this weekend as Scream is projected to put an end to the Web-Head’s dominance and become number 1 at the box office this weekend.
While Spider-Man is estimated to make anywhere from $16 million to $19 million in its 5th weekend, Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media looks to rake in over $20 million during the 4 day Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend with a very good chance it could make even more. However, with the pandemic still raging, you never know in this unpredictable box office climate.
When you compare it to another recent horror offering, Halloween Kills made just under $50 million in its opening weekend this past October and Andy Muschietti’s 2013 film Mama currently holds the MLK weekend horror genre record at $32.1 million. While it remains to be seen if Scream can stab its way to that kind of success, when you compare it to other films in the franchise, this new film would land right in the middle with those reserved projections. The original Scream in 1996 made a modest $6.3 million in its opening weekend, a year later in 1997 Scream 2 made $32.9 million, in 2000 Scream 3 made $34.7 million, and in 2011 Scream 4 made $18.6 million.
However, it is also important to mention that every film in this iconic slasher franchise has been in it for the long haul. Besides Scream 4, every film has made over $160 million worldwide in its theatrical run and even its 4th entry almost made $100 million worldwide after an 11 year absence from the franchise. The new Scream has the same 11 year gap between it and the last film. While the franchise was kept alive by MTV's Scream: The TV Series during that time, it will be interesting to see where Ghostface’s new killing spree lands because of that gap between entries. The franchise as a whole has made $534.3 million worldwide up to this point.
The marketing, which has featured some bloody good posters, a fun interactive web browser game, and trailers that have left fans with so many spine tingling questions, has been simply killer. Due to this and the critical reaction of the film being extremely positive thus far, there is reason to be optimistic for the next set of Woodsboro Murders. We will find out how Ghostface fairs on January 14 when Scream kills its way into theaters. Until then, you can watch the final trailer and read the plot synopsis for this seemingly deadly slasher film down below.
Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past. Neve Campbell (“Sidney Prescott”), Courteney Cox (“Gale Weathers”) and David Arquette (“Dewey Riley”) return to their iconic roles in Scream alongside Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Marley Shelton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar.