The Scream movies have always been hits. That’s why we’re now on the seventh one. But in the 30 years since the franchise began, Scream has never had the kind of opening weekend success it had this weekend. At least financially.
Scream 7 was released last week and grossed $97 million globally on its opening weekend, with over $64 million of that coming domestically. That smashes, or should we say slashes, the previous opening weekend record of $44 million from the previous installment, 2023’s Scream VI. The number also sets it up to potentially become the highest-grossing Scream film ever domestically, a record also held by Scream VI with $108 million. (Which, of course, is unadjusted for inflation. With inflation, the original films beat that handily.)
Horror fans turning out to see a name-brand franchise shouldn’t be that surprising, though. It happens time and time again. What is surprising is that it happened with a film that has, by far, the worst reviews in the history of the series. Scream 7 currently holds a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is well below the previous record holder, Scream 3, which has a 45% rating. Of course, critics don’t dictate what the fans think, though, and the film has a 78% rating from the fans, which ranks it higher than Scream 2-4. (A stat we take with a grain of salt. Much like box office inflation, new movies have way more ratings on Rotten Tomatoes than old ones.)
How can this be? Well, oftentimes, opening weekend is the brief moment in a film’s history when box office and reviews don’t clash. Opening weekend is when fans of a franchise turn out to see it, no matter what. Negative reviews rarely stop fans from buying tickets to see a movie that first weekend. A true hit, however, happens in the second weekend and beyond when fans hear from their friends whether or not the movie is worth checking out. Word of mouth is way more powerful than any review. But, often, reviews do hint towards what that word of mouth will be. We’ll see how it goes on weekend two.
And, of course, all of this doesn’t even take into account potential protests or boycotts due to the firing of Melissa Barrera. It’s impossible to say how much more the film would’ve grossed if there were no problematic history, but considering it made $20 million more than the previous installment, the studio probably doesn’t care. For them, it’s a win.
We did not like Scream 7—like, at all—but if its success means filmmakers can run it back and try again, we’re all for it. There’s clearly still life in Ghostface and maybe more than we even imagined.
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