Box office: Paramount is on a roll. Hyped up with “Top Gun Maverick” very hot coming into the Oscars and making a fortune, the venerable studio had a big weekend. “Scream VI” took in almost $45 million in just three days plus previews and was number 1.
What revived the “Scream” franchise The fright fest has good reviews, Courteney Cox, and a serious ingredient: Jenna Ortega, the “it” girl of the moment from “Wednesday,” the Addams Family series. That’s a recipe for success.
Elsewhere, “Creed III” hit $101 million, crossing the magic line a day or two earlier than expected. What happened? A crazy Saturday surge, unexpected, pushed them into a weekend headline. By most accounts, “Creed III” was lagging and shouldn’t have hit the mark until tomorrow or Tuesday. We’ll see if the guesstimate pans out.
Flops of the weekend: Adam Driver in “65,” which turned out to have a speed limit. Just $12 million, with bad reviews. Next time, call it “90.” And “Champions” were losers, sadly, A basketball movie with Woody Harrelson, “Champions” collapsed with $5.1 million. Woody Harrelson’s appearance last week on “SNL”: didn’t add to the bottom line. We’ll see that one on Peacock pretty quickly!
