Courteney Cox in Paramount Pictures' Scream (2022)

Erik Gruenwedel

January 16, 2022

Paramount Pictures’ Scream, the fifth installment in the slasher franchise, exceeded the studio’s projections to generate more than $35 million in estimated North American theatrical revenue through Jan. 16. Paramount had expected a conservative $20 million opening weekend.

The movie — the first since 2011 and without original director Wes Craven, who died in 2015 — reunited original stars Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich — to jumpstart a new storyline around nemesis Ghostface terrorizing a group of teenagers.

“This opening has reinvigorated the franchise for fans, while simultaneously introducing it to a whole new generation of Scream fans,” Chris Aronson, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Paramount, said in a statement.

The tally was enough to unseat the longtime box office polesitter, Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: No Way Home, which had around $26 million over the four-day period. The latest webslinger superhero movie will soon top the $700.4 million made in North America by Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther to take over the No. 4 spot on the all-time domestic earners list.

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Universal Pictures’ animated musical sequel Sing 2 generated an estimated $11 million over four days, to run its domestic box haul past $122 million.

Overall, the pre-Martin Luther King Jr. weekend box office is projected to top $92.3 million over four days, which would be down 55% from pre-pandemic 2020 when Sony’s Bad Boys for Life helped deliver a $205.3 million weekend, including a $73 million debut.