Scream VI Slayed At The Box Office While Creed III Kept Fighting Hard
Millions tuned into Hollywood's biggest night on Sunday as the Oscars took place, while many others were enjoying SXSW in Austin, Texas. This to say, it was a big weekend for movie lovers, and those who weren't occupied with either of the aforementioned events seemingly saw one of two movies: the newly released "Scream VI" or the previous weekend's box office champion "Creed III." Both movies did stellar business over the weekend, but the latest sequel in the ongoing saga of Ghostface truly slayed, setting a new high bar for the franchise nearly 30 years after Wes Craven's original revived the slasher genre.
Per Box Office Mojo, "Scream VI" earned $44.5 million, decimating the record that was previously held by "Scream 3" ($34.7 million). Meanwhile, internationally, the sequel carved up another $22.6 million, giving it a global launch of $67.1 million. That easily sets it up to at least match the gross of 2022's "Scream" ($138.8 million), if not easily surpass it. Perhaps most amazing? It's doing all of this without franchise star Neve Campbell, who declined to return as Sidney Prescott for the sixth installment. While her presence certainly wouldn't have hurt anything, it's clear general audiences weren't too upset by Sidney being MIA.
As we learned last year, horror is having itself one heck of a moment at the box office and Paramount has capitalized handily on that with the help of this much-beloved slasher series, which had been dormant for more than a decade. It's dormant no longer though, and it would not be remotely surprising to find out a seventh entry is in the works sooner rather than later.
Creed III goes hard in round two
As for "Creed III," Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut is proving to be an enduring hit, and not just a one hit wonder. After topping the charts last weekend with a record for the "Rocky" franchise, the sequel took in another $27.1 million, which was easily good enough for the number two spot. That represents a 53.4% drop from the first weekend and, given the heavy competition, that's a damn fine number. That puts it past $100 million domestically already, with $101.3 million to its name in North America, to go with $78 million internationally. So yeah, with $179.3 million worldwide after just two weekends, this one is in excellent shape.
It has already passed "Creed" ($173.5 million) and should pass "Creed II" ($213.5 million) before long. That makes the $75 million budget very justifiable for MGM. It's no wonder that the studio is looking to expand the "Creed"-verse with Amazon, as we learned last week. TV shows, perhaps another movie, it's all on the table. And why not? It's clear audiences are going to keep showing up so long as Jordan continues to deliver.
What's perhaps most interesting is that we have two long-running franchises topping the charts right now, both of which are doing so without the actors that anchored them for so many years (Never Campbell with "Scream" and Sylvester Stallone, who does not return as Rocky Balboa in "Creed III"). It's good news for franchise filmmaking in general, as these films prove that we can, indeed, leave the past behind when the time is right.
A couple of new releases got buried
Moving on, Sony released its big dinosaur movie starring Adam Driver, "65," very quietly this weekend. That is surprising, given that it is a big-budget sci-fi movie from the guys who wrote "A Quiet Place" with an A-list star in it. Be that as it may, director Scott Beck and Bryan Woods had their latest straight-up buried by the competition, as it debuted to just $12.3 million. Admittedly, the general response has been mixed-to-negative (read our review here). Even so, it feels very much like Sony could have moved this away from such heavy competition very easily to get a better result. It's a shame for high-concept original cinema, to be certain.
Meanwhile, the co-director of "Dumb and Dumber" released a new movie over the weekend starring Woody Harrelson, making for a "Kingpin" reunion. Yet, you'd be forgiven for having no idea Bobby Farrelly's "Champions" was released, as Focus Features very quietly let this one out in the world, wrestling in a meager $5.15 million debut. Why did Focus seemingly dump this one? It's tough to say but again, a rough result for people who want to see studio-released comedies in theaters rather than just on Netflix.
Looking ahead, we've got a big one in "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" hitting theaters this upcoming weekend, which is bad news for both "65" and "Champions." You can check out the full list of the top 10 movies from this past weekend below.
Top 10 movies at the box office March 10 — 12, 2023:
1. "Scream VI" – $44.5 million
2. "Creed III" – $27.1 million
3. "65" – $12.3 million
4. "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" – $7 million
5. "Cocaine Bear" – $6.2 million
6. "Jesus Revolution" – $5.17 million
7. "Champions" – $5.15 million
8. "Avatar: The Way of Water" – $2.7 million
9. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" – $1.65 million
10. "Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre" – $1.28 million