‘Scream’ boots Spidey from box office top
The slasher sequel “Scream” cut down the competition, giving the North American box office its first new champion in five weekends.
The movie about a masked murderer made an estimated $30.6 million at domestic theaters between Friday and Sunday, leading all films.
It was enough to dethrone the record-setting “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which had won the box office in each of the previous four weekends. The superhero flick made $20.8 million over the three-day stretch to finish in second place.
The new “Scream” — the fifth entry to the horror film franchise — opened exclusively in theaters last Friday.
The movie brings back longtime “Scream” stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, while rebooting the popular series by introducing a new Ghostface killer.
“Now we’re open, people have seen the movie and we’re off and running,” said Paramount Pictures’ head of domestic distribution, Chris Aronson, the Associated Press reported. “Hopefully this becomes another building block toward building the business back and getting it back to some semblance of normalcy.”
“Scream,” also starring Melissa Barrera, made $18 million at international theaters over the weekend as well.
Despite its second-place finish, “Spider-Man: Now Way Home” is poised to cross the $700 million threshold at the domestic box office. Sony projects the film to reach $703.9 million Monday, which would make it the fourth-highest grossing film ever in North America.
“No Way Home,” the third “Spider-Man” film to star Tom Holland as the title hero, is far and away the highest grossing film of the COVID-19 pandemic. It came out Dec. 17.
Another December release, the animated “Sing 2,” added another $8.3 million over the weekend to finish third.
Rounding out the top five were a pair of spy thrillers — “The 355” and “The King’s Man” — which are both estimated to make about $2.3 million between Friday and Sunday.
The pandemic continues to present issues for cinemas, the omicron variant of the virus being the latest challenge. Studios have repeatedly postponed release dates throughout the pandemic, while some films have received simultaneous home releases or moved directly to streaming services.