Scary Movie 6 dominated the box office during its opening weekend. The highly anticipated horror-comedy revival posted a franchise-record $55 million to $56 million domestically across 3,490 theaters.
Driven by heavy audience nostalgia for the return of the Wayans brothers, Anna Faris, and Regina Hall, the film easily cleared industry expectations. It also outperformed the series’s previous opening weekend benchmark of $49.7 million set by Scary Movie 4 in 2006.
This record-breaking performance comfortably cleared the previous nominal franchise benchmark set back in 2003 by Scary Movie 3, which opened to $48.1 million. Remarkably, the film’s international footprint even allowed it to out-slay its chief satirical target, Scream 7, which debuted earlier in the year to a lesser $97 million worldwide. On a budget of just $30 million, its opening weekend performance stands as one of the most profitable releases ever. Now that the Wayans are back in control of the franchises, the results are undeniable.
THE WAYANS ACCUSE THE WEINSTEINS OF STEALING THE SCARY MOVIE FRANCHISE
In an interview with Variety, Wayans said that he and his brothers were pushed out of the franchise by Harvey and Bob Weinstein. It was the result of their demand for a raise for a third film following the massive success of the first two movies.
“They absolutely did [us wrong]. Absolutely,”Wayans said, adding, “We could’ve sued, and we probably would’ve won.”
“We didn’t even know,” Wayans continued. “And we got an announcement on New Year’s Eve that they were doing Scary Movie 3. The franchise was stripped from us. And we were just asking for our fair share.”
“What they did is between them and God,” he added. “I don’t applaud that type of behavior, but I can’t hold hate and hurt in my heart if I want to evolve.”
A part of Weinstein-owned Miramax, the first film grossed $278 million on a $19 million budget. The second film grossed $141 million on a $45 million budget.