More than a decade after the last installment, Scary Movie has proven its staying power, landing at the top of the weekend box office with an estimated $55 million in domestic ticket sales for its debut weekend.
Coming in second was the weekend’s other new opening, Masters of the Universe, earning $29.3 million at the domestic box office. Masters was followed by the A24 horror Backrooms, with $25.9 million, and close behind that is Focus Features’ own genre entry, Obsession, with $25.6 million.
Directed by Michael Tiddes, Paramount and Miramax’s Scary Movie sees the return of franchise stars Anna Faris and Regina Hall. The R-rated comedy is the return of the spoof film franchise that sends up horror movie tropes, popular culture and current events. The film, which was made in association with original studio Miramax, is the sixth installment in the franchise but the first in more than two decades to feature the series’ originators, the Wayans brothers.
In addition to its $55 million domestic bow, Scary Movie earned $50.5 million abroad from more than 50 territories, with a total global haul of $105.5 million. The audience was a fairly even split between men and women, 55 percent male to 45 percent female, but heavily leaned younger, with 62 percent of ticket buyers under the age of 30.
Amazon and Mattel Films’ Masters sees Nicholas Galitzine star as Prince Adam/He-Man, the toy-turned-beloved ’80s animated character. After being separated from his home world, Adam finds his way back to Eternia, which he needs to save from the villainous Skeletor (Jared Leto). Other classic Masters characters like Teela (Camila Mendes), Duncan/Man-at-Arms (Idris Elba) and Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) are on hand for the adventure directed by Travis Knight.
Masters, which has a Metacritic score of 54 and a B Cinema Score, opened in 3,677 screens with an audience that skewed heavily male (66 percent to 34 percent female). In a nod to nostalgia for the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series, which ran from 1983 to 1985 and continued for years after in syndication, the biggest age demographic for the weekend was 45- to 54-year-olds, making up 29 percent of the audience.
In addressing the weekend’s performance, Amazon MGM Studios head of domestic theatrical distribution Kevin Wilson highlighted the film’s future, saying, “Travis Knight and the entire cast and filmmaking team have delivered something truly special, and this opening is exactly the kind of critical first moment that validates our holistic distribution strategy — building awareness and engagement that will carry well beyond the theatrical window.”
Backrooms, the $10 million horror based on director Kane Parsons’ viral YouTube short film series, and Obsession, the horror thriller about a man who wishes that his crush would return his affections to disastrous consequence, have already broken box office records. In only its second weekend of release, Backrooms has become the highest-grossing hit for studio A24, beating out Timothée Chalamet-starrer Marty Supreme. As for Curry Barker’s Obsession, the film is the first film outside of Christmas since 1982’s E.T.: The Extraterrestrial to have second and third weekends bigger than its first.
Even with the film’s 70 percent decline in ticket sales at the domestic box office, Backrooms continues to impress. Globally, it currently sits at $212 million.
For its part, Obsession continued to prove its staying power, dropping only 7 percent in weekend-over-weekend sales. This brings Obsession’s domestic total to $152 million, with the film expected to surpass the $200 million mark at the global box office by the end of the weekend. The film is one of the most successful releases in Focus’ history.
More to come.
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