It’s official: Scary Movie is now a $1 billion franchise. The horror/comedy series of spoof films had been away for over a decade dating back to 2013’s Scary Movie V, but the Wayans Brothers recently revived the concept for a new generation. That has proved to be good business thus far. So much so that the new Scary Movie has pushed the series over this pretty impressive box office milestone.
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On its most recent weekend, director Mike Tiddes’ Scary Movie pulled in $3 million domestically. That now brings its running total to $103.5 million domestically to go with $111.8 million internationally for a grand total of $215.3 million worldwide. The latest Scary Movie had a massive box office opening but, despite a big drop-off in its second weekend, has held in there long enough to become a massive global hit. It carries a reported $30 million budget, meaning it’s going to be hugely profitable for Paramount.
More importantly, the franchise has now collectively grossed $1.1 billion worldwide since its inception in 2000. The original Scary Movie still remains the highest-grossing single entry in the bunch, with $278 million to its name. But even the lowest-grossing entry in the bunch, Scary Movie V, still pulled in nearly $79 million on a $20 million budget, terms almost any studio would take today without hesitation. In all likelihood, Paramount will seek to bring the Wayans Brothers back for Scary Movie 7, in light of the latest entry’s major success.
The latest entry in the series brings back the Core Four who are put in a new killer’s crosshairs, with no horror movie IP is safe. Marlon Wayans (Shorty), Shawn Wayans (Ray), Anna Faris (Cindy) and Regina Hall (Brenda) reprise their roles, among others.
To further illustrate just how well this movie is doing, it even managed to pass this year’s Scream 7 ($208 million) at the global box office. Coincidentally, Scream 7 also pushed that franchise past the $1 billion milestone and yes, Scream 8 is in the works. This isn’t about lowering one to raise the other, more to illustrate just how impressive this spoof comedy’s success has been, somewhat quietly I might add.
Looking ahead, the Fourth of July weekend will be ruled by Minions & Monsters, which looks like it could be a gateway kaiju movie of sorts for youngsters. The weekend of July 10 will bring with it Evil Dead Burn, which is featured on the subscriber cover of FANGORIA #32. It’s positioned as counterprogramming against Disney’s live-action Moana.
Scary Movie is in theaters now.
