Scary Movie 6, which marks the Wayans’ return to directing the franchise, kicks off strong at the American box office and looks set to be a blockbuster.
Thirteen years after its fifth installment, the Scary Movie saga is back in theaters. After being sidelined from the series following the second film, the Wayans brothers reclaim command, reuniting a sizable portion of the cast from the first feature. Alas, with its retrograde sensibility, its mechanical humor, and its reactionary jabs, this Scary Movie 6 is more than disappointing. Yet, despite mixed responses and a scathing American reception, the film starring Anna Faris is poised to explode at the box office.
Heading Toward a Box-Office Smash for Scary Movie 6
According to Deadline’s figures, after its opening weekend in North America, this sixth Scary Movie is expected to pull in around $55 million across 3,490 theaters. That’s simply the best launch yet for a film in the franchise, topping the first entry’s $42 million in 2000 and the third’s nearly $50 million in 2003, unadjusted for inflation.
It’s also well ahead of another recent return of a parody franchise, Is There a Cop to Save the World?, which opened domestically with $17 million last year on a $42 million production budget. Moreover, Scary Movie 6 is said to have cost around $30 million, excluding marketing. As such, the Michael Tiddes-directed film could become a notable financial success for Paramount, potentially surpassing $100 million in domestic grosses over its entire run.
Finally, Scary Movie 6 posted a much stronger opening than Masters of the Universe, the Mattel adaptation. Directed by Travis Knight, the feature isn’t expected to top $30 million in its opening weekend and is projected to land in second place on the week’s fresh releases box office. Note that the production budget for Masters of the Universe is reported to be between $170 million and $200 million (per Deadline and Variety), roughly six times the budget of Scary Movie 6.
Scary Movie 6, which has already crossed the $100 million mark worldwide, can it do better than the original which raked in $277 million in 2000, still the highest gross for the saga to date, ahead of Scary Movie 4 ($178 million in 2006)? In any case, it has already surpassed Scary Movie 5, the sole entry without Anna Faris and Regina Hall, which only managed $78 million in 2013.
