rewrite this title Box Office: ‘Scary Movie’ Opening To $52M+ Franchise Record, ‘Masters of the Universe’ $31M+

FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Paramount-Miramax’s Scary Movie is backing the comedy movie back alive, bound for a franchise opening record of $52.7M per middays estimates off a first Friday and previews of $23.5M at 3,490 theaters.

It’s also a sweet comedback moment for the Wayans Brothers, as the franchise architects have been away from their own IP following 2001’s Scary Movie 2 (blame the then Dimension administration for not negotiating a proper return of the comedic fratellos).

Social media analytics corp RelishMix spotted an online reach across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X of 653M for the sixth pic in the comedy series, 2.7x above horror franchise norms “with an aggressive push on a new TikTok page in the last three weeks, aggressive on Facebook and X, strong on YouTube and throttling well on Instagram.”

“The Scary cast has been around the block and are fully social and fully activated with Marlon Wayans at 23.3M fans, Regina Hall at 6.7M, Anna Faris at 5.3M, Anthony Anderson at 4.4M, Lochlyn Munro at 814K and Cheri Oteri at 413K,” reports RelishMix.

“Convo runs positive for Scary Movie 6, with nostalgia doing a full victory lap in a Ghostface mask. The crowd is hyped for Cindy, Brenda, the Wayans energy, horror cameos, and the return of dumb, rude, reference-heavy spoof comedy. Viewers keep comparing it to Scream, Terrifier, M3GAN, Smile, The Substance, Longlegs, Sinners, Weapons, and even Hot Shots, which means the trailer is successfully selling itself as a parody buffet. The best chatter treats the movie like a millennial reunion event with Gen Z accidentally invited. The mood is loud, chaotic, and weirdly affectionate. Supporting reactions include ‘The fact I can actually list all the horror movies they’re parodying is already a great sign’ and ‘Was 15 when first Scary Movie came out. First time I smoked weed before we went. Yeah, miss those times. 41 now, looking for nostalgia break with this one.’”

The overall weekend looks to file in well north of $140M+ (that’s just the top five movies), which for the 23rd weekend of the year is higher than 2025’s ($112.8M) and 2024’s 3-day take ($104.3M). This best result this weekend saw post Covid was in 2022 when Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion led all titles to a near $215M Friday through Sunday. The movies’ themselves do have a villain lurking around tonight, and that’s the second game of the NBA finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. Hopefully they don’t soften moviegoing any more than what we’re seeing now.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Masters of the Universe is calling dibs on second with $31.1M after a Friday/previews take of $12.1M at 3,677 sites. Hopefully those good reviews and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes bring the families out on what’s been a near 18-year journey for this Mattel and Escape Artists revamp of the 1980s toys and animated TV series.

A24/Chernin Entertainment/Atomic Monster-Blumhouse/21 Laps/Phobos’ Backrooms at 3,565 locations is currently seeing $8.5M today and a second weekend around $26.5M, -67% which syncs with that divided B- CinemaScore from mass moviegoers. Still great, and A24’s highest grossing movie stateside, which rise its cume through Sunday to $135.6M.

Fourth is Focus Features’ mighty Curry Barker horror romance Obsession with an estimated fourth Friday of $7.5M and 3-day of $24.8M, -9% dip. Very mind-blowing and not far from Michael‘s $26.4M fourth frame. Among all fourth weekends, that’s the best for a horror movie ahead of Blair Witch Project‘s $24.3M. The weekend result will get Focus’ highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office up to $151.3M by EOD Sunday. Global rises to $196M+. Among Focus Features pure theatrical releases, that’s the best the label has ever seen ahead of 2019’s Downton Abbey ($194.6M). But if you want to get technical, there the 2000’s Oscar winning Traffic from Focus predecessor/Uni classic label USA Films which cleared $207.5M WW.

Rivals were dissing Fathom Entertainment’s The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act yesterday saying that hourly ticket sales were dropping, and that the Friday-Sunday take would fall short greatly. The big screen version of the YouTube viral animated sensation is seeing $4.5M today, -42% from pic’s first day yesterday for what’s looking like a 3-day of $13M, and 4-day of $20.8M. If those numbers hold, it will rep a record opening for Fathom, besting last year’s The Chosen: Last Supper Part 1 which bowed to $12M. Forecasts for Amazing Digital Circus heading into the weekend was in the $15M-$18M range.

UPDATED AFTER EXCLUSIVE: Paramount-Miramax’s Scary Movie will win the weekend, but Fathom Entertainment’s YouTube sensation The Amazing Digital Circus led Thursday with a reported $7.8M at 2,235 theaters in its first regular day of release. Sources believe the pic’s weekend will be extremely front-loaded. Others were seeing $8M+ for the Glitch Productions animated finale to the cult series that also had a run on Netflix.

Scary Movie posted $7.7M in previews. Amazon MGM Studio’s Masters of the Universe wound up at $4.4M, close to where we were spotting them. Updated Rotten Tomatoes for Scary Movie is 30% Rotten for critics, 69% audience, while He-Man and friends are 70% certified fresh with critics, 88% with audiences. Both pics are sharing PLFs with Masters of the Universe conquering some of Mandalorian and Grogu‘s Imax auditoriums.

A24’s Backrooms was second on Thursday behind Amazing Digital Circus with $5.1M, -14% from Wednesday.

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Week’s top 5

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PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE: Paramount-Miramax’s reboot Scary Movie as of right now is having the first laugh (and ultimately the last) at the box office, and big, with an estimated $7.5M in previews that began at 2 p.m. Thursday. Meanwhile, Amazon MGM Studios’ $170M production of Mattel and Escape Artists’ Masters of the Universe is eyeing around $4M. That Travis Knight-directed take of the 1980s toys and cartoon series began its showtimes at 2 p.m. as well.

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But the Wayans Brothers and Rick Alvarez’s Scary Movie, yikes, that’s a big preview number for a comedy, up there in the echelon of Paramount/Spyglass’ Scream 7 ($7.8M previews, $63.6M record opening for franchise) and higher than 2020’s Bad Boys for Life ($62.5M) and 2024’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die ($5.875M previews, $56.5M opening); all of ’em R-rated comps. The $30M Michael Tiddes-directed pic with an ensemble led by Anna Faris, Regina Hall and Marlon and Shawn Wayans originally was expected to do $40M-$45M stateside. Critics don’t get the movie at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences so far seem to be laughing more at 68%.

Masters of the Universe‘s preview cash is just under 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife ($4.5M, $44M opening) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ($4.7M, $45M), all of ’em PG-13 family pics based on 1980s franchises. Note the real audience for this feature starring Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto and Alison Brie will come out on Saturday. Early scores are not so bad for the revamped IP at 71% certified fresh with critics and 89% with audience, much better than another expensive 1980s update, Disney’s Tron: Ares, which was powered down by critics at 52% Rotten, but better with audiences at 83%.

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As we told you, Fathom Entertainment and Glitch Productions’ The Amazing Digital Circus is shaping up to do around $6.8M in its first full day at the B.O. today ahead of A24’s Backrooms, which could upset Masters of the Universe for No. 2. this weekend with a $32M-$37M second frame. We’ll see.