Box Office: ‘Cocaine Bear’ Cracks $8.6 Million Opening Day, ‘Ant-Man 3’ Projects Record Drop for Marvel

Oscar weekend belonged to “Scream VI” in theaters, as the horror sequel notched a franchise-best $44.5 million in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Scream VI is officially a hit!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Scream VI” collected $44.5 million in its opening weekend, a scary-good start for Paramount and Spyglass Media’s long-running slasher series. Those ticket sales were enough to top domestic box office charts over two newcomers, Sony’s prehistoric sci-fi thriller “65” and the Focus Features heartwarming comedy “Champions,” as well as last weekend’s victor “Creed III.” The initial haul for “Scream VI” is frighteningly strong for the sixth installment in a franchise. Not only did it greatly improve upon the start of last year’s hit reboot “Scream,” which scored with $30 million, but it crushed the all-time opening weekend record previously set by 2000’s “Scream 3” with $34 million. And, “Scream VI” cost $35 million so it’ll easily turn a profit in its theatrical run.

J. Kim Murphy Do you like scary movies? The rest of the box office does. Paramount’s “Scream VI” looks to spook off “Creed III” for the top slot at the domestic box office. The self-branded slasher re-quel grossed $19.3 million from 3,675 locations on its opening day, a figure that includes $5.7 million in previews. That’s more than enough to fend off the weekend’s other new releases, Sony’s science-fiction dinosaur thriller “65” and Focus Features’ sports comedy “Champions.” “Scream VI” is already a few steps ahead of its 2022 predecessor, which landed a $13 million opening day. In fact, the “Scream” franchise is proving to be bigger than ever. Should projections hold, the sixth entry will score a franchise record opening weekend of $43.5 million, a good deal higher than the $32 million that “Scream 2” earned in its 1997 bow.

Jordan Moreau The sixth time may be the charm: “Scream VI” is heading toward what could be a franchise-high opening at the box office this weekend. The Paramount and Spyglass Media slasher movie made $5.7 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews. It’s expanding from 3,125 domestic theaters to 3,675 on Friday. Nearly 27 years after the first “Scream” movie terrified moviegoers, the franchise is still going strong, thanks to last year’s reboot, or “requel,” also titled “Scream.” The 2022 “Scream” pulled in $3.5 million in Thursday previews in January 2022 before scaring up a solid $30 million opening weekend. “Scream 3,” released in 2000, years before some of the younger stars of the newest movie were born, holds the record for the franchise’s highest opening weekend with $34 million.

grossed $3.5 million at the Thursday box office in January 2022. It went on to make $81.6 million in the U.S. and $137.7 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Half a dozen movies in, and the bloodletting hasn’t eased up — or gotten less popular. “Scream VI,” the latest installment in the long-running horror series, looks to slash its way to new opening weekend heights at the box office. Paramount is releasing the film in 3,670 North American theaters on Friday. Based on early estimates, “Scream VI” is projected to debut to at least $35 million and as much as $40 million over the weekend. As of now, 2000’s “Scream 3” remains the franchise’s top opener with $34 million. Records aside, the newest entry is expected to improve upon the start of last year’s hit “Scream” (not to be confused with 1996’s “Scream”), which scored a solid $30 million debut in January. By bringing back franchise stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette — and adding in newcomers Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and Dylan Minnette — to the quiet town of Woodsboro, 2022’s “Scream” earned positive reviews and ended its box office run with $81 million domestically and $137 million. Not too shabby, considering it cost $25 million and was released amid the omicron COVID surge.

J. Kim Murphy “Creed III” is set to knock out “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” for the top spot on domestic charts. The MGM released took in an impressive $22 million opening day, a figure that includes $5.45 million from preview screenings earlier in the week. Playing in 4,007 locations, the “Rocky” spinoff is now projecting an opening north of $50 million, exceeding initial expectations that had the drama pegged at an opening in the $30 millions. It would also mark a franchise high across all the “Creed” films and the entire “Rocky” series, rocketing beyond the three-day debuts of the first “Creed” ($29 million) and its 2018 sequel ($35 million).

UPDATED, Friday PM: Amazon, as it re-embraces theatrical with its acquisition of MGM, will easily see the company’s biggest box office opening ever with Creed III, which is headed to a franchise record start of $45.5 million after a $20M Friday (including $5.45M in previews). Creed III‘s opening day alone is bigger than any previous box office weekend for an Amazon title.

Bad blood! Scheana Shay slammed her former friend Katie Maloney for calling her a “troll” on a recent episode of Vanderpump Rules.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” continued atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second weekend in a row with £3.04 million ($3.6 million), according to numbers from Comscore. In its fourth weekend, Universal’s “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” collected £1.7 million in second place for a total of £20.4 million. Another Universal title, Elizabeth Banks’ “Cocaine Bear,” debuted in third position with £1.5 million. Studiocanal’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” debuted in fourth place with £1.08 million. Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” that earned £470,020 in its third weekend for a total of £4.9 million.

Cocaine Bear has everyone talking this weekend!

Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Universal’s horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear” blew past box office projections, earning an impressive $23 million from 3,534 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The blood-splattered animal adventure landed in second place on domestic charts behind Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which all but collapsed in its sophomore outing. “Ant-Man 3” managed to remain in first place given its huge $106 million opening, but the comic book installment is suffering from negative word-of-mouth. It added $32.2 million from 4,345 venues in its second weekend of release, marking a brutal 69% decline from its debut. Now, “Quantumania” holds the ignominious distinction as the biggest week-to-week drop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including “Black Widow” (which plunged 67.8% while debuting simultaneously on Disney Plus) and “Eternals” (which fell 62% after equally bad reviews). Globally, the movie has generated $364 million, including $167 million domestically and $196 million internationally.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The comedy, which is directed by Elizabeth Banks, whom The Post said, “keeps the powder gags fresh throughout,” is loosely based on a true story of a black bear in Georgia that ate millions of dollars worth of lost cocaine. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which was in first place last week, creeped to second with an $8.3 million-dollar take.The plummet in sales for the superhero flick, which cost around $200 million to make, marks the worst-ever second-week drop for a Marvel film, according to Deadline.Remaining in third was “Avatar: The Way of Water” with $1.1 million in sales.

“Cocaine Bear” is barreling into theatres in a big way.

slated to open somewhere in the mid-teens, with the possibility of hitting $20 million in ticket sales this weekend. For a comparison, the Christmas action comedy “Violent Night” made $1.1 million in Thursday preview showings to kick off a $13 million opening weekend. Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Jimmy Warden’s stranger-than-fiction screenplay tells the story of Cokey the Bear, a Black bear who in 1985 consumed a large amount of cocaine a drug runner had dropped into a Georgia forest.

Universal’s R-rated Elizabeth Banks campy genre pic Cocaine Bear lifted $2M last night from previews at 3,000 theaters that began at 5PM.

Jordan Moreau “Cocaine Bear” is snorting up a solid opening weekend. The R-rated action-comedy earned $2 million in Thursday previews at the domestic box office. It opened in 3,000 North American theaters Thursday night and will expand to 3,534 on Friday. Universal’s bloody, real-life tale about a black bear on a cocaine-fueled rampage is projected to open with $15 million to $17 million this weekend. Some predictions have it opening with as much as $20 million, thanks to its positive word-of-mouth (or word-of-snout) and memeability online. The mid-budget film cost roughly $35 million, with much of it used on the CGI bear, so a launch in the upper teens would be a good sign.

“A bear did COCAINE!” screams a frazzled Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), trying to explain a patently absurd concept like a rational person – and exposing the vast capacity for humor that lies between the two. “Cocaine Bear,” a film that really puts the high in high-concept comedy, contains promise and peril in its premise.