Seems “Scary Movie 6” will be exceeding expectations this weekend as it tallied $7.7M in Thursday previews, and a $60M opening is now a real possibility. The film only cost $30M.
That $60M weekend tally would be a franchise record, besting the previous high set by 2003’s “Scary Movie 3” ($48M). These are impressive numbers for the Wayans brothers and Paramount, and “Scary Movie 6” will quite easily become the most successful comedy release in over 15 years and the second-biggest opening for the genre ever, behind only “The Hangover Part II,” which opened to $85M in 2011.
Last week’s champ, A24’s “Backrooms,” hit $5.1M on Thursday and is looking at a $35M second frame, which would represent a 57% drop from its $81M opening weekend.
Meanwhile, Amazon MGM Studios’ $200M “Masters of the Universe” earned around $4M on Thursday, including the $1.2M it had already made from early shows. So that’s really only $2.8M from Thursday proper for the Travis Knight-directed take on the 1980s toy line and cartoon series. A $25M–$30M weekend is expected. Not great, though audience response has been positive.
“Obsession” ended its third week with a $4.7M Thursday, a mere 1% week-over-week decline. The film actually added 100 screens this weekend, so a third consecutive increase isn’t out of the realm of possibility. For now, it’s looking at a $23M–$24M weekend, which would be a slight decrease. With so much competition in the marketplace this weekend, this is still a very impressive hold.
Finally, “The Amazing Digital Circus,” based on the hit indie animated web series created by Gooseworx and produced by Glitch Productions, grossed $7.8M in its first full day at the box office. However, the film will be highly front-loaded and is looking at a $20M weekend.
This is shaping up to be a very interesting weekend for box-office watchers. Can “Scary Movie 6” hit $60M? Will “Obsession” increase again? How steep will the drop be for “Backrooms”? Is “Masters of the Universe” going to underperform? We’ll have a better idea by Saturday.