By Chris Kavan - 01/19/22 at 11:53 AM CT
Nothing much on the MPAA Rating front this week so once again the main attention is on the box office. Scream was finally able to dethrone the record-breaking web slinger, thanks to a deluge of younger audiences who were willing to check out this smart update the horror franchise. Don't feel too bad for Spidey and crew, however, as even in second place, the film continued to crawl up the all-time charts and still shows little sign of slowing down even after five weeks.
In 1996, director Wes Craven debuted Scream - a horror film that was a wink and nod to common horror tropes while delivering a smart story and a soon-to-be-iconic new villain in Ghostface. While the film spawned several sequels, it was a case of diminishing returns, even though main stars showed up in some capacity throughout. In 2022 we revisit Scream with veteran alums Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette back on board to help a new generation of victims and could-be-killers. With 67% of the audience in the 18-35 range, it turns out this smart sequel/reboot was just the right blend and opened on top of the box office with a $30 million weekend, rising to $33.8 with the MLK holiday taken into account. That nearly doubled the opening of Scream 4 ($18.7 million) back in 2011 and once again shows that horror is uniquely positioned as a pandemic cure for the box office. The film scored a 75% Fresh ratings with critics and a "B+" Cinemascore with audiences - both exceedingly high for a horror film. Hopefully this means Scream, much like Spider-Man, with have a decent run. Given the lack of competition, it won't have to work too hard. With a budget of just $25 million, Scream looks to be the first film of 2022 to make a profit (even if its overseas was an afterthought of just $300,000). Hopefully the first of many.
While Spider-Man: No Way Home may have given up its top spot to Scream, the web-slinging multi-versal adventure continues to wrack up some impressive numbers. In second place, the film still took in $20 million (down 38.4%) - rising to $24.6 million including the holiday - for a new domestic total of $702.5 million. In the process, it passed Black Panther ($700.4 million) to rise to 4th place on the all-time charts. Even with its diminishing returns, I still think it has a good chance of catching up to Avatar ($760.5 million) to settle in third place. Its international total is creeping towards $1 billion alone - with $926.3 million and counting. That gives the hero a massive $1.62 billion worldwide, made all the more impressive given the current situation.
In third place, Sing 2 continues to show plenty of life as well with the animated sequel delivering a $8 million weekend - off just over 31% - and landing with $10.3 million for the holiday run. That gives the star-studded film a new $121.4 million total with that $125 million milestone hit before next weekend drops. It has also taken in $96.3 million overseas for a worldwide total of $215.7 million as it continues to grow ever-closer to matching the first films $270.4 million total and with every passing week looks better and better at giving it a run to top it.
In fourth place the beleaguered female-driven action-spy thriller The 355 took a hard 50.8% hit over its disappointing opening, bringing in just $2.27 million over the weekend - rising to just $2.7 million by Monday - and giving it a withering $8.8 million total. It has added in less than $3 million overseas, its international cast not helping things as intended, for a worldwide total of just $11 million.
Rounding out the top five was The King's Man, the prequel action-packed adventure took in $2.21 million (down 28%) - $2.6 million including Monday - giving it a new $29 million total. It is doing much better overseas, which sits at more than double its domestic total, with $63.8 million as it approaches the $100 million worldwide mark sitting at $92.5 million.
The one new film of note was the anime Belle, directed by Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars) that follows a shy girl from a small village who finds a big voice in the online world "U" where she gains a massive following as Belle, who becomes an enchanting singer with millions of fans worldwide. When a monstrous beast interrupts one of her concerts, she decides to risk everything to uncover the story - and true identity - behind this persona. A riff on Beauty and the Beast, Belle took in $1.64 million - easily became the best opening for Hosoda. The film has been a hit with critics and audiences (95% with critics and 94% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes) and has already proven a hit overseas with $58.3 million.
Next week brings us the family film The King's Daughter as well as the religious-leaning romance Redeeming Love - neither of which look to have much impact on the box office.
As I said, while the MPAA Ratings Board wasn't dormant, there also isn't much of note in this week's MPAA Ratings Bulletin. I'll just leave you this lovely list below and hope that the coming weeks bring more substance.
BEAR WITNESS
Rated G
THE CALM BEYOND
Rated R for some violence and language.
CAPTORS
Rated R for some disturbing and violent content.
GRANDMOTHER (LA ABUELA)
Rated R for some bloody images, nudity, drug use, language and brief sexuality.
MASTER
Rated R for language and some drug use.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and smoking.
POLAR BEAR
Rated PG for some thematic elements.
SO COLD THE RIVER
Rated R for some violence, bloody images, and language.
ZERO CONTACT
Rated R for some violent content and brief language.
