Scary Movie 6 had a great opening day and is on track to set series records.
Paramount and Miramax’s “Scary Movie 6,” the first in a parody series directed by the Wayans brothers since 2001’s “Scary Movie 2,” grossed $24.7 million domestically from 3,490 theaters on Friday. The irreverent horror-comedy is expected to gross $56 million by Sunday, more than enough to earn it the title of the best scary movie opening of all time. The record currently belongs to “Scary Movie 4,” which debuted in 2006 with $49.7 million. The film comes with a $30 million price tag.
Scary Movie 6 reunites Marlon Wayans, Sean Wayans, and Damon Wayans Jr. on screen, with Craig Waynes and Keenen Ivory Wayans co-writing the screenplay with Rick Alvarez. Anna Faris and Regina Hall will also reprise their roles as Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks. Other cast members include Kenan Thompson, Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munroe, Carmen Electra, Kim Wayans, Sheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, and Heidi Gardner. Directed by Michael Tiedes, this raunchy, slapstick horror parody will feature popular titles such as “Scream,” “Get Out,” “Longlegs,” “Thinners,” “M3GAN,” and “Weapons.”
The other major new film this weekend was Amazon MGM’s “Masters of the Universe,” which came in second place on Friday with $11.7 million from 3,677 North American screens. The sci-fi adventure is targeting $30 million by Sunday, a slow start considering its $200 million production budget.
“Bumblebee” director Travis Knight will direct “Masters of the Universe,” which is based on the iconic ’80s action figure and its corresponding comic book series. The film follows Prince Adam as he returns from Earth to his home planet of Eternia to fight the evil undead sorcerer Skeletor. Nicholas Galitzine plays the blonde warrior. Idris Elba, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, and Jared Leto round out the cast as Man at Arms, Teela, Evil Lyn, and Skeletor.
Backrooms ranked third in the domestic box office with $7.9 million in its second Friday in North American theaters. The film, a marginal horror-thriller from 20-year-old director Kane Parsons, smashed expectations with an opening weekend gross of $81.5 million and is expected to earn an additional $25 million by Sunday. This represents a significant 69% drop from the debut film, but since A24 only spent about $10 million on Backrooms, it hardly matters. This means that the film is already one of the most profitable films of the year.
In fourth place was Focus Features’ Obsession, which grossed $7.4 million at the domestic box office in its fourth Friday of release. The horror-thriller grossed more than $116 million in North America after grossing $17 million against a budget of less than $1 million. By Sunday, “Obession” should earn another $24 million, down just 9% from last weekend’s total. This will push domestic profits to $151 million.
Finally, in fifth place was “Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act.” The popular web series released its final two full-length episodes in 2,221 theaters on Wednesday. It raised an estimated $4.6 million domestically on Friday and is expected to collect about $14.1 million by the end of the week. This surreal animated dark comedy follows a group of humans trapped as goofy characters in a cartoonish virtual reality. Cooper Goodwin, known by his online handle Gooseworx, is the director, writer, and composer. The voice cast includes Lizzie Freeman, Michael Kovach, Amanda Hufford, and Marissa Lenti.
