Scream 5 beat Spider-Man: Homeless at the box office, proving that horror is Disney's biggest competitor.
The unprecedented theater revenue of the premiere weekend of Scream 5 proves that horror films are Disney's biggest competitors at the box office. While many films and studios struggled to attract audiences during these two years, the Disney series of movies did succeed — just look at Spider-Man: Homeless, which soared and broke records at the box office, earning more than $1 billion. With the exception of some action and sci-fi films, Disney has long held the box office revenue throne, but there is still one genre that threatens its dominance: horror films, as Scream 5 eventually proved, and it eventually surpassed Spider-Man: Homeless on the weekend since December 17.
Paramount's Scream 5 is full of Easter eggs, classic thrillers, and references to the series' past episodes, making it a horror fan favorite. While continuing Scream's critical trend toward horror rules, sequels, fandoms, and its own revival as a satirical killer, Scream 5 cleverly paves the way for a new generation of characters. The concept of a new generation of legendary characters in Scream 4 was introduced, but since almost all the main characters died and only Jill (Emma Roberts) had a direct family connection to the original, the torch relay did not last. At the end of Scream 5, most teens with family ties to Scream 1 characters are still alive and have decades of horror knowledge, making it more likely that new legendary survivors will return to the Scream 6 sequel.
In addition to art films, films directed by famous directors and blockbuster projects, a series of horror films like Scream is the only film in the past two years that can compete with Disney at the box office. While there isn't one event movie strong enough to surpass an event movie like Spider-Man: Homeless, the successful premiere weekend of Scream 5 proved that horror was a formidable rival to Disney's box office champion. When combined with unexpectedly successful dramas such as major horror movies of 2021 (such as Halloween Killings), A Quiet Place 2, and The Conjuring 3: Ghosts Make God Worse, the high attendance of Scream 5 bodes well for Disney's box office monopoly.
Scream 5 had a good opening weekend
The premiere weekend of Scream 5 broke expectations for the premiere weekend from Friday to Monday, reaching an unprecedented $36 million. Compared to previous Scream movies, Scream 5 ranked third in premiere weekend revenue, but technically, if it included a holiday weekend premiere, it ranked first. Not only is that number impressive for films over the last two years, but the box office success of Scream 5's premiere weekend is also one of the best January premieres in history. Much depends on Scream's 25-year pull on audiences and its ability to appeal to niche, focused, and especially young horror fandom. Aside from superhero movies, Disney movies, and long-running action movie series, horror movies are one of the only reliable genres in cinemas in recent years. So it's no surprise that Scream 5 was able to beat one of the highest-grossing films of all time, Spider-Man: Homeless, at the box office on its premiere weekend. Learn more about the $30.6 million weekend premiere of Scream 5, Friday through Sunday, surpassing Disney's 2021 movie premieres of "Out of Control," "Jungle Quest," "Full House of Magic," and "Kuila."
Horror films outperformed box office expectations
Although expectations for box office performance in the past two years have been much lower than usual, horror movies have indeed managed to exceed expert predictions. A Quiet Place 2 was one of the first films to be released when theaters reopened in the spring of 2021, hence the name "Back to Cinema" event. The horror sequel managed to make $48.3 million on its premiere weekend from Friday to Sunday and $58.6 million over a four-day anniversary holiday weekend, exceeding the $30-50 million originally expected. Similarly, "The Conjuring 3: The Ghost Makes God Worse" was forecast to bring in $19 million in box office revenue and grossed $24 million in the opening weekend, much to the surprise of box office experts. Candy Man (2021) followed, with a box office expectation of $20.7 million, but a premiere grossed $22.4 million. The most surprising box office receipt for fall 2021 was Halloween Killing, a sequel to Halloween (2018), which premiered in theaters on Oct. 15 and eaten into the revenue of Ridley Scott's The Last Duel for the first time. "Halloween Killing" was expected to make $40 million, but ended up earning $50 million on opening weekend. With Scream 5 grossing $35 million in January, it's a significant sign for the film industry, and horror has proven to be an excellent box office exception in those two years.
Why horror movies are a safe guarantee at the box office
Like disney's always-successful superhero movies, horror movies have perfectly benefited from movie series that generally perform well in theaters. Horror films like Scream 5 are one of the most obvious examples of cinematic benefiting from a theatrical experience – horror and suspense require dark spaces, quiet environments, loud sounds, and huge screens to present frightening details so that the audience can fully immerse themselves in the terrifying world. The genre is also known for interacting with the audience, where horror fans feel more amused and the experience is more amusing when the audience screams next to the character, yells at the character who makes a mistake, and cheers when the last girl survives. That's part of the reason Why Halloween Killing was so successful at the box office, because it can also be streamed — horror movies are almost like accidents when they're released in theaters.
Horror movies are also much less risky to ticket buyers when it comes to determining the value of seeing movies in theaters. As paroded in the five Scream series, horror fans know what they're going to see because of how reliable the IP is, so it's usually a good time to do whatever the movie is really "good" or not. When viewers go to see Scream 5, they know they'll see teenagers slashed by mysterious grimace killers; when they go to see Halloween Killing, they know they'll see the murder of the invincible Michael Miles frighten the residents of Hadenfield. Horror movies also didn't get as much at the box office as the typical Disney movies were affected by criticism or poor audience response — such as Halloween Killing, which was slammed by critics but vastly exceeded expectations and competition at the box office.
Disney's biggest weakness is horror
While Disney can reliably shine at the box office through categories such as superhero movies, sci-fi series, and all-encompassing cartoons, the studio lacks proficiency in horror, one of the most reliable genres at the box office. Disney could make classic Halloween background movies, such as "The Nightmare Before Christmas Eve," but they're historically tacky and family-oriented and won't appeal to those who want Michael Miles to put on a mask or Sidney Prescott chase another horror movie horror fanatic grimace. Disney's most popular horror or gothic films are family-oriented, and many have never even seen a theatrical release. While Disney acquired the rights to several horror films such as Flyfinders, Alien and Predator from a deal with 20th-century studios, Mickey Mouse House has yet to successfully reboot or reinvigorate such films. Disney's ownership of these horror films also worries viewers that the studio will make them more family-friendly in the future, which won't easily appeal to horror fans who boosted the box office wins of Halloween Killing and Scream 5. So until Disney creates a horror series that rivals the classic series or newer adventures like The Conjuring and A Quiet Place, the studio will continue to face the stiffest competition for profits like Scream 5.
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