{"id":481185,"date":"2026-06-03T15:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T15:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481185\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T15:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T15:58:10","slug":"box-office-scary-movie-masters-of-the-universe-opening-weekend-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481185\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Office: ‘Scary Movie’ ‘Masters of the Universe’ Opening Weekend Estimates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cScary Movie<\/a>\u201d will contend with another scary movie, A24\u2019s breakout horror hit \u201cBackrooms<\/a>,\u201d for No. 1 at the domestic box office. <\/p>\n

\n\tParamount and Miramax\u2019s R-rated \u201cScary Movie\u201d is aiming for $45 million to $50 million from 3,400 North American theaters in its opening weekend. Paramount is offering a projection of $40 million. Should ticket sales reach the higher end of expectations, \u201cScary Movie\u201d will set a franchise record, a benchmark that currently belongs to 2006\u2019s \u201cScary Movie 4\u201d with $49.7 million (not adjusted for inflation).<\/p>\n

\n\tExhibitors are bullish on the newest installment in the 25-year-old parody series, especially since horror and nostalgia have been fueling the box office. There\u2019s so much new material to spoof \u2014 \u201cGet Out,\u201d \u201cWeapons,\u201d \u201cM3GAN,\u201d \u201cLonglegs,\u201d \u201cScream\u201d and even \u201cBackrooms\u201d are among the targets this time around \u2014 since the last \u201cScary Movie\u201d was released in 2013. Yet there\u2019s a ton of unexpected competition at multiplexes given the smash success of \u201cBackrooms\u201d and \u201cObsession,\u201d two horror films that struck a chord with Gen Z. Last weekend, Kane Parson\u2019s \u201cBackrooms\u201d obliterated expectations with $81 million domestically<\/a> and is poised to earn as much as $48 million to $50 million in its sophomore outing. Meanwhile Curry Barker\u2019s \u201cObsession\u201d has enjoyed unprecedented week-to-week increases in ticket sales, picking up $105 million in North America and $150 million globally after three weekends of release. Since all three films have very different tones, they should be able to coexist at the box office.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cScary Movie\u201d brings back the Wayans brothers \u2014 \u00a0Marlon Wayans,\u00a0Shawn Wayans,\u00a0Keenen Ivory Wayans and Craig Wayans wrote the script with Rick Alvarez, while Marlon and Shawn co-star as Shorty and Ray \u2014 for the first time since 2001\u2019s \u201cScary Movie 2.\u201d They were forced out of the franchise<\/a> they created by the Weinsteins, who owned Miramax at the time. There\u2019s also excitement because Anna Faris and Regina Hall, whose characters haven\u2019t returned since 2006\u2019s \u201cScary Movie 4,\u201d are back as Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks. Miramax financed \u201cScary Movie\u201d for $30 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis weekend\u2019s other major release is Amazon MGM\u2019s \u201cMasters of the Universe<\/a>,\u201d a sword-and-planet adventure based on the Mattel toy known as He-Man. The PG-13 movie is targeting a $30 million to $35 million start from 3,500 locations. Word-of-mouth will be key to the box office longevity, and thus the financial success of \u201cMasters of the Universe,\u201d which carries a hefty $200 million budget. The movie has the challenge of galvanizing the moviegoing masses for a toy that was popular in the \u201980s. However, \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d could benefit from the fact that family crowds haven\u2019t been engaging all that much with Disney\u2019s \u201cStar Wars\u201d spinoff \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu,\u201d which opened over Memorial Day weekend and suffered a catastrophic 70% drop in its second frame.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d has been in the works since 2007 \u2014 longer than the seeming eternity that Prince Adam was separated from his home planet of Eternia. The property cycled through several studios, including Netflix, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures, as well as countless writers, directors and stars, such as Jon M. Chu, McG, and Noah Centineo. When Amazon MGM acquired the rights in 2024, they hired Travis Knight (\u201cBumblebee\u201d) to direct and Nicholas Galitzine to portray the titular blond-haired god. Idris Elba, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie and Jared Leto round out the cast as Man-at-Arms, Teela, Evil-Lyn and Skeletor. \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d follows Adam as he embrace his true identity as the almighty He-Man after the evil Skeletor brutally cedes the power in Eternia.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmazon MGM is hoping to extend a commercial streak after March\u2019s astronaut epic \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d earned a sterling $678 million worldwide to date. Meanwhile \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d is the second theatrical film from Mattel after \u201cBarbie,\u201d a staggering success with $1.44 billion worldwide. Post-\u201cBarbie,\u201d Mattel has raided its toy box to commission movies based on Polly Pocket, American Girl, Barney, Rock \u2018Em Sock \u2018Em Robots and the card game Uno.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cScary Movie\u201d will contend with another scary movie, A24\u2019s breakout horror hit \u201cBackrooms,\u201d for No. 1 at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[147231,93,61,60,42073,270,78996,199456],"class_list":["post-481185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-backrooms","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-masters-of-the-universe","tag-movies","tag-scary-movie","tag-summer-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}