{"id":622897,"date":"2026-06-05T15:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622897\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:53:14","slug":"box-office-scary-movie-takes-on-masters-of-the-universe-and-backrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622897\/","title":{"rendered":"Box office: Scary Movie takes on Masters of the Universe and Backrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend’s box office<\/a> has a bit of everything: a spoof revival, a sword-wielding action hero, and a record-shattering YouTube phenom.<\/p>\n

Paramount’s Scary Movie revival arrives as the presumptive front-runner with projections landing in the $45 million\u2013$55 million range \u2014 enough to potentially crack the franchise record held by Scary Movie 3’s $49.7 million debut back in 2003. The Wayans Brothers are back in the fold for the first time since Scary Movie 2, with Marlon and Shawn Wayans co-writing and co-starring alongside returning fan favorites Anna Faris and Regina Hall. The spoof targets a wealth of recent horror \u2014 Get Out, Longlegs, Sinners, Backrooms<\/a> and more \u2014 and is tracking strongly with Black and Latino audiences as well as the under-35 crowd. At a lean $30 million budget, this one’s already looking like a win.<\/p>\n

\"Chiwetel<\/a> \"The<\/a> <\/p>\n

Hot on its heels is Amazon MGM’s Masters of the Universe<\/a>, the long-in-development He-Man reboot starring Nicholas Galitzine, Idris Elba, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie and a heavily disguised Jared Leto as Skeletor. The Travis Knight-directed adventure is projecting $30 million\u2013$35 million domestically and arrives with a solid 73% “certified fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. With a reported budget of up to $200 million, word-of-mouth will determine whether this becomes a franchise springboard or a cautionary tale.<\/p>\n

Battling He-Man for second or third is Backrooms, A24’s record-shattering debut from last weekend. The Kane Parsons\u2013directed phenomenon opened to $81 million \u2014 the studio’s biggest ever \u2014 and is projecting a $30 million\u2013$35 million sophomore frame despite new competition. A “B\u2013” CinemaScore suggests some front-loading, but the buzzy nature of the film could give it some legs. Either way, the film \u2014 made for under $10 million \u2014 has already cemented itself as a massive box-office success.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Obsession<\/a> keeps defying gravity. Curry Barker’s micro-budget horror hit has now earned $116 million domestically and $161 million globally through three weekends \u2014 a jaw-dropping run for a film that reportedly cost under $1 million. With no sign of slowing down, it could once again outpace expectations.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the top five should be The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, Fathom Entertainment’s theatrical bow of the wildly popular Australian adult animated series. Projections sit at $10 million\u2013$15 million from around 2,200 theaters, driven almost entirely by the show’s devoted young fanbase \u2014 the same demographic that logged a reported 25 billion YouTube views for the franchise. It’s expected to edge out Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/a> for fifth place, continuing the YouTube-to-cinema pipeline that is fast becoming Hollywood’s most closely watched trend.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Lionsgate’s Power Ballad (Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas) expands wide this weekend, while Magnolia’s romantic crime thriller Carolina Caroline opens in limited release.<\/p>\n

New releases<\/p>\n

Scary Movie
Director: Michael Tiddes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Two friends find themselves caught up in mayhem involving killers, monsters and supernatural creatures once again. The spoof comedy has a running time of one hour, 36 minutes, and is rated R. Scary Movie\u00a0is certified “rotten”<\/a> with a 32% score per the aggregated critic reviews at Rotten Tomatoes; “generally unfavorable” reviews compiled by Metacritic<\/a> resulted in an overall score of 37%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Masters of the Universe
Director: Travis Knight
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios
A young man on Earth discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet, and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom. The fantasy adventure has a running time of two hours, 20 minutes, and is rated PG-13. Masters of the Universe\u00a0is certified “fresh” with a 73% score per the aggregated critic reviews at Rotten Tomatoes; “mixed” reviews compiled by Metacritic<\/a> resulted in an overall score of 54%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act
Director: Gooseworx
Distributor: Fathom Entertainment
Feature length version of the final two episodes (episode 8 and 9) of The Amazing Digital Circus, showing the conclusion of the cast of characters trapped in a digital realm under the mercy of an unstable ringmaster. The has a running time of one hour, 40 minutes, and is rated PG-13. As of this writing, The Amazing Digital Circus\u00a0had no official score on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> or Metacritic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Power Ballad
Director: John Carney
Distributor: Lionsgate
Rick, a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny, a fading boy band star, bond over music and a late-night jam session. When Danny turns Rick’s song into a hit, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves. The musical comedy has a running time of one hour, 38 minutes, and is rated R. Power Ballad\u00a0is certified “fresh”<\/a> with a 88% score per the aggregated critic reviews at Rotten Tomatoes; “generally favorable” reviews compiled by Metacritic<\/a> resulted in an overall score of 66%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Carolina Caroline
Director: Adam Rehmeier
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
A young woman joins a charming con man on the run, leaving a trail of crime and passion as they hustle through the Southeast in search of her estranged mother. The romantic thriller has a running time of one hour, 45 minutes, and is rated R. Carolina Caroline is certified “fresh”<\/a> with a 97% score per the aggregated critic reviews at Rotten Tomatoes; “generally favorable” reviews compiled by Metacritic<\/a> resulted in an overall score of 77%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Here are Gold Derby’s predicted box-office rankings for the top five over the June 5-7 weekend:<\/p>\n

1. Scary Movie \u2014 $50 million
2. Masters of the Universe \u2014 $36 million
3. Backrooms \u2014 $35 million
4. Obsession \u2014 $21 million
5. The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act \u2014 $12 million<\/p>\n

\"Renate<\/p>\n

2026 box-office hits: Every movie that made more than $100 million<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This weekend’s box office has a bit of everything: a spoof revival, a sword-wielding action hero, and a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[161206,7214,175445,96,96074,2839,14159,60656,91152,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-622897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-backrooms","tag-box-office","tag-box-office-predictions","tag-entertainment","tag-masters-of-the-universe","tag-movies","tag-obsession","tag-scary-movie-6","tag-the-mandalorian-and-grogu","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}