Weekend Box Office: Scary Movie Defeats He-Man with $55 Million Opening
The latest entry in the spoof franchise not only scored its highest debut but also pulled the series across the $1 billion milestone.
While youthful directors and YouTube sensations continue to take up worthy space amidst the box office headlines, some throwback nostalgia rose to the top this week. Shawn and Marlon Wayans were in their late 20s when the first Scary Movie came out, and many of us were in grade school when we started playing with our He-Man and Skeletor action figures. Unfortunately many who had those toys and watched the cartoons did not show up this weekend, while the other weaker-reviewed franchise is hitting an all-timer of a milestone.
King of the Crop: Scary Movie Opens at No. 1 with $55 Million
The Wayans returned to the parody franchise that they spawned in 2000 for the first time in 25 years. The initial Scary Movie opened to $42.3 million and grossed over $157 million domestic and $278 million worldwide, but they stepped away after the sequel did about half the business. In 2003, David Zucker, one of the originators of Airplane!, Top Secret, and The Naked Gun, returned to the world of parody with Scary Movie 3 and 4, which opened to $48.1 million and $40.2 million, respectively, and grossed a combined $200 million domestic and nearly $400 million worldwide. In 2013, Malcolm D. Lee gave Scary Movie 5 a try, and despite just a $32 million domestic gross and savage reviews (4% on the Tomatometer) it was still a success.
Those films were released under the eye of the Weinsteins. 2026’s Scary Movie is out now from Paramount, who, for the second film in a row after Passenger, apparently tried to stave off negative reviews by not screening the film for critics. (Will they go for the trifecta with Jackass: Best & Last?) Nevertheless, they certainly got one number they wanted, with a $55 million opening, the best of the franchise. Nothing wrong with that for the $30 million production.
Reviews, on the other hand, have not been great, as the film has earned a 24% with critics who ventured out to cover it — not that these films have ever been a critical darling (there’s nary a Fresh Tomatometer among them). The original was the high watermark at 51%. The Zucker films got 36% and 37%, and Scary Movie 2 got a lowly 15%. The 4% received by Scary Movie 5 is down there with Battlefield Earth, Jack and Jill, and fellow spoof film Vampires Suck, on the list of the worst-reviewed films to open in over 3,000 theaters. All things being equal, though, all six of the Scary Movie films will be able to brag not just about their individual profits, but with an additional $50.5 million across the world, Scary Movie is now officially a billion-dollar franchise.
Tales of the Top 10: Masters of the Universe Debuts in Second, Obsession Keeps Making Money, and Mario Crosses $1 Billion
Mattel had a massive hit with Barbie in 2023, which earned $636 million domestic and $1.44 billion worldwide. Amazon had a massive hit this year with Project Hail Mary, which has earned $342+ million domestic and $678+ million globally. Both are about to take another kind of hit with Masters of the Universe, as it appears the toy line and subsequent animated series have not exactly moved into the lexicon of the post-1980s generations, and that’s a shame.
Despite reasonably positive reviews (66%), that film opened to just $29.3 million. That ranks 19th now among films opening in the first weekend of June, behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows ($35.3 million), The Purge ($34.0 million), Dark Phoenix ($32.8 million), The Truman Show ($31.5 million), and Knocked Up ($30.6 million).
That’s not a great mix, considering those first three titles are the biggest June debut openings to fail to reach $100 million. Word of mouth may be better than any of them, so hope springs Eternia. Edge of Tomorrow squeaked it out after a $28.7 million start in 2014, but a mere $100 million domestic gross is not what a $170 million production wants to see. For all the grief The Mandalorian and Grogu has received, these numbers are much worse and far more unfortunate. Travis Knight is often cited for directing the best of the Transformers films in Bumblebee (92%) and the best of the Laika animated films in Kubo and the Two Strings (97%). His He-Man movie score isn’t on par with those, but it certainly bests the 17% of the 1987 Cannon production starring Dolph Lundgren. Globally the film has started with just $25 million on top of the domestic $29 million. Alas, 1980s Flash Gordon was not appreciated in its time, and the 2026 Masters of the Universe may need some time to reach its audience as well.
Kane Parsons’ Backrooms saw the kind of drop one might associate with not just a horror film but one that opened to over $81 million. Last year, The Conjuring: Last Rites opened to $84 million and then fell 68%, while Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 fell 69.7% from its $64 million start. Backrooms fell 67% in its sophomore frame to $25.9 million. This is a $10 million production that made $135 million in its first 10 days and is already over $212 million worldwide. A 67% drop may endanger its shot at hitting $200 million domestic, but again, a $10 million production is now the highest-grossing release in A24’s history, and it’s going to outgross this year’s Star Wars film. Check out where it ranks among the successes of other films costing a reported $10 million or less (all before inflation) since 1975:
Jaws ($260.6 million)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding ($241.4 million)
Get Out ($176.0 million)
Crocodile Dundee ($174.8 million)
Halloween (2018) ($159.3 million)
Grease ($159.9 million)
Obsession ($151.3 million)
Juno ($143.4 million)
Animal House ($141.6 million)
The Blair Witch Project ($140.5 million)
Look Who’s Talking ($140.0 million)
Platoon ($138.5 million)
Good Will Hunting ($138.4 million)
Backrooms ($135.0 million)
An Officer and a Gentleman ($129.7 million)
Fahrenheit 9/11 ($119.1 million)
Magic Mike ($113.7 million)
The Grudge (2004) ($110.3 million)
Terms of Endearment ($108.4 million)
Pulp Fiction ($107.9 million)
Driving Miss Daisy ($106.5 million)
Kramer vs. Kramer ($106.2 million)
Porky’s ($105.4 million)
Paranormal Activity 2 ($104.0 million)
9 to 5 ($103.2 million)
Stir Crazy ($101.3 million)
For the first time in the history of its theatrical run (i.e. a month), Obsession has had a lower weekend than the previous one. And by lower, we are talking just 7% lower. Another $25.6 million in its fourth weekend gives Curry Barker’s horror comedy $152.1 million in 24 days. That puts it higher than such big budget May releases as Mad Max: Fury Road ($130.6 million), San Andreas ($132.6 million), Fast X ($138.2 million), John Wick: Chapter 3 ($138.6 million), 1996’s Mission: Impossible ($138.7 million), and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ($140.1 million). The highest fourth weekend among those films was $8.96 million. Obsession is nearly three times that with one of the top 25 fourth weekends ever. Obsession is headed over $200 million domestic, folks. It is already there globally with over $224 million.
Playing the percentage game, the best summer increase in its fourth weekend goes back to 1986 when Top Gun went up 19.2% to $8.23 million after adding 474 theaters. Movies making just in the vicinity of Obsession’s numbers while still increasing business in weekend four include Monsters, Inc. ($24.05 million, a 5.9% increase) and Elf ($21.64 million, a 15.7% increase), both of them over Thanksgiving weekend. Other summer increases in weekend four include Big (1988) and The Karate Kid Part II (1986). The most recent summer title in Obsession’s vicinity was The Help, which was a 0.4% increase to $14.59 million… over the Labor Day holiday. Obsession had its Memorial Day bump in weekend two. The lowest drops among the highest fourth weekends ever, which Obsession is now a part of, were Top Gun: Maverick (-13.9% with $44.6 million) and Titanic (-13.8% with $28.7 million). What a truly amazing story this continues to be.
Another day, another YouTube sensation turns up in theaters and makes a bunch of money. The Amazing Digital Circus began on the platform in 2023, and then the series was made available on Netflix a year later. Now its finale, The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, hit theaters on Thursday and became the No. 1 film in the country with $8.33 million. Adding another $11.5 million over the weekend, the Fathom Entertainment release in 2,221 theaters has made $19.4 million in four days. Fathom’s release of part 1 of The Chosen: Last Supper in 2025 started with $11.7 million over the weekend and $13.06 million in four days of release. Their 15th Anniversary re-release of Coraline grossed $33.3 million in 2024. Digital Circus has its eye on that.
Solo: A Star Wars Story made $15.7 million in its third weekend. The Mandalorian and Grogu just did $10 million. Watch the final estimates on Monday, because this could become the first live-action Star Wars film to fall below $10 million in its third weekend. None of them, not even Solo, fell below that until their fifth weekends upon their initial releases. With only $155 million in its domestic bank, the television spinoff is $21 million off the pace of Solo and now looking at a final gross between $170-180 million. What more can be said? Solo made over $179 million outside of North America. Mando & Grogu is currently at $138 million. All the Episodes plus Rogue One (or Episode 3.9) were huge successes. The rest have come up short.
Michael is now the highest-grossing film in the history of Lionsgate. The film hit the 45-day mark on Sunday, and after six weeks in the top five, it fell back to seventh with a still impressive $7.7 million. After making $354 million domestically in that period and over $897 million worldwide, it is now headed to VOD this Tuesday and to Blu-ray on July 14. It is just $14 million away from catching Bohemian Rhapsody’s $911 million to become the highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
Two of last week’s openers are at the bottom of the list this week. Nate Bargatze’s big screen debut in The Breadwinner was immediately an afterthought. Another $3.4 million this week brings the $25 million production to just $13.8 million. Focus Features’ WWII drama Pressure made $3 million to bring its total to $11.1 million.
Finally, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is now the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year worldwide. Domestically it added $2.6 million to the pot to bring that total to nearly $215 million. But with an additional $448 million internationally, it is now over $663 million and threatening to overtake Project Hail Mary’s $678 million for third place. Say what you will about the tremendous success of younglings Kane Parsons and Curry Barker, but the ladies of Prada 2 have the most profitable film of the year outside of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which, by the way, officially became the first billion-dollar film of 2026 this weekend.
Beyond the Top 10: Power Ballad Fails to Perform, I Love Boosters Begins to Fade
John Carney’s Power Ballad expanded this week into 1,275 theaters and grossed a very disappointing $1.32 million and has made $1.54 million since its limited release last week. His second film, Begin Again with Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley, did not expand wide until week three, when it landed in 939 theaters and grossed $2.82 million and ultimately over $16 million domestic. His Oscar-winning debut, Fox Searchlight’s Once, was never in more than 150 theaters but played and played and played until it grossed $9.4 million. Sing Street never had much of a chance, as The Weinstein Co. (who also put out Begin Again) expanded it to as many as 525 theaters in week five and it grossed a total of $3.2 million. Critics have responded favorably with a 86% score, but lightning just couldn’t strike twice for Lionsgate this year with music-based films.
In other news, The Sheep Detectives fell out of the top 10 this week but still made another $2.2 million to bring its domestic total just shy of $60 million, which it will pass this week. Plus, Boots Riley tried to tell you: If you don’t go see his latest film in its first couple weekends, it would be gone. I Love Boosters dropped to only 300 theaters in its third week and made $500,000. The Neon release has made $8.6 million total.
On The Vine: Steven Spielberg Returns to Sci-Fi with Disclosure Day
The latest science-fiction tale from Steven Spielberg arrives in the form of Disclosure Day with Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, and Colin Firth, among others. Expect the Universal film to lead the way. Lionsgate has the martial arts thriller The Furious, currently sporting a perfect 100% on the Tomatometer. You can also take a ride on the out-of-control Glamazonian Express in Stop! That! Train! from Bleecker Street.
Full List of Box Office Results: June 5-7
- Scary Movie – $55.0 million ($55.0 million total)
- Masters of the Universe – $29.3 million ($29.3 million total)
- Backrooms – $25.9 million ($135.0 million total)
- Obsession – $25.6 million ($152.1 million total)
- The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act – $11.5 million ($19.4 million total)
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu – $10.0 million ($155.8 million total)
- Michael – $7.7 million ($354.2 million total)
- The Breadwinner – $3.4 million ($13.8 million total)
- Pressure – $3.0 million ($11.1 million total)
- The Devil Wears Prada 2 – $2.8 million ($214.9 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by Quantrell Colbert/©Paramount Pictures
