On today’s episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, Variety’s Brent Lang opens up about a busy weekend at the turnstiles as “Scary Movies” returns for the first time in 13 years and the first production in 25 years with Wayans at the helm. And it was a truly horrible weekend for Amazon MGM Studios’ Masters of the Universe, which stumbled on its opening weekend.
Lang pointed out that it’s no surprise that “scary movies” resonate with modern audiences.
“I thought the audience would have aged out of hearing this, so it was a bit of a surprise,” Lang said. “But again, this is a parody. It’s a parody of horror movies, and horror movies are more popular than ever. You know, from ‘Sinners’ to ‘Weapons’ to ‘The There was a lot of material that they could really get into, so there’s a lot of new material. And I think that’s kind of exciting, too, because it’s probably going to get the R rating back. Comedy is a genre that Hollywood has really put out of the business of making, and I hope this brings people back to the theaters who want to laugh.”
As for “Masters of the Universe,” sales were down significantly from the 2023 hit “Barbie,” which kicked off Mattel’s new film strategy.
“This was a real stumbling block. This is a movie that cost $200 million to make, so it was very expensive, but it made less than $30 million in profit. If this were any other studio, it would cause a lot of panic and confusion,” Lang says. “This is a little bit different because Amazon has a streaming platform, and they say they’re evaluating the outcome of movies differently and trying to drive viewers to Prime Video. That said, people don’t greenlight a $200 million movie expecting an opening like this. And I think the property was very old. I mean, I’m in my 40s, but Masters of the Universe was a big deal when I was a kid. So I don’t know if young people really found it meaningful. I want to rush out and see this. ”
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