Yahoo Movies Scream nabs top box office spot with killer debut
Spider-Man is no match for Ghostface.
The fifth installment of the iconic horror film franchise Scream debuted at the top box office spot this weekend with a killer $30.6 million in domestic box offices, ending Spider-Man: No Way Home's four-week reign.
The sequel — the first of which to not be directed by the late Wes Craven, who died in 2015 at the age of 76 after a battle with brain cancer — is looking at a projected $36 million by the end of the four-day holiday weekend, according to Comscore.
BROWNIE HARRIS/ Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group Ghostface in the new 'Scream'
In the new installment, a new killer dons the fabled Ghostface mask and terrorizes a new group of teenagers in the quiet town of Woodsboro, 25 years after the original series of gruesome murders. Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Jack Quaid, and Dylan Minnette are this iteration's generation of teens, joined by OGs Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette.
In his B- review, EW's Joshua Rothkopf ruminated that the new version "trots out its legacy cast with the flourish of a magician pulling off a well-practiced trick;" but while Easter eggs and homages to the late horror maestro are aplenty, the film "doesn't build its sequences with the same meat-and-potatoes solidity as Craven did."
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Rothkopf mused, "don't have those chops yet," adding, "Go ahead and poke fun at elevated horror, but until you attain that level of technical command and depth, you're just bringing a very large knife to a gunfight."
PARAMOUNT PICTURES Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott and Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers in 'Scream'
Spider-Man trailed behind Scream in second place, webbing in $20.8 million this week and a gross total of $698 million. Sing 2, The 355, and The King's Man rounded out the top five with $8.2 million and a tied $2.3 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, Belle — director Mamoru Hosoda's English-language version of his anime adventure about a young girl's quest into a fantastical virtual world — made its debut at No. 6 with $1.6 million following its Jan. 14 release. Manny Jacinto, Hunter Schafer, and Chace Crawford lend their voices.
Sports drama American Underdog and romance musical West Side Story came in at seventh and eight place, bringing in $1.6 million and $948 thousand this weekend, respectively. Last week's coming-of-age dramedy Licorice Pizza and sci-fi action The Matrix Resurrections remained in the top 10, raking in $900 thousand and $815 thousand, respectively.
Pick up a copy of Entertainment Weekly's Ultimate Guide to Scream, available online or wherever magazines are sold.
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