Scream 6 Has Already Passed $100 Million At The Box Office, All But Ensuring Scream 7

Even on a weekend where a big superhero movie sequel opened in theaters, it is once again "Scream VI" that warrants some discussion. The sixth entry in the long-running slasher series debuted atop the charts last weekend, easily topping Adam Driver's dinosaur movie "65," which kind of flopped, unfortunately. In its second frame, Ghostface continued to carve up a healthy number of ticket sales, with the movie already sailing past the $100 million mark worldwide.

While "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" topped the charts with a deeply uninspiring $30.5 million, "Scream VI" stayed strong with $17.5 million in the number two spot. Yes, that is a 60.6% drop compared to its first weekend, but given the major competition, it's a big win. Not only that, but director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's sequel has now earned $76 million domestic through two weekends, to go with $40 million overseas thus far. With $116 million in the bank already, things are looking very, very good.

For context, last year's "Scream" topped out at $81.6 million domestic and $138.8 million worldwide. If "Scream VI" legs out like its predecessor, it should/could top out at $120 million domestic. If it also follows the pattern of 2022's installment internationally, we'd be looking at an $84 million (give or take) overseas haul, for a worldwide total of $200 million or more. Is that going to happen? It's too early to tell, but that would make it the highest-grossing entry in the series to date, which would be extremely impressive.

Even if "Scream VI" starts falling sharply, it should easily blow past the $150 million mark globally and, against an estimated $35 million production budget, that would make it another big win for Paramount Pictures and Spyglass. Even though it cost more to produce than "Scream" 2022 ($24 million), we're still looking at pretty reasonable budgets here, all things considered. Even $150 million against a $35 million budget represents a take of more than four times the investment (not counting marketing). That's easy movie math.

What's perhaps most impressive is that the sixth film, which took the action to New York City for the first time, managed to do such big business without Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott. The beloved final girl anchored the first five movies in the series, but Campbell couldn't come to an agreement on salary with the film's producers and declined to return this time. All due respect to Campbell, but it didn't seem to matter as far as moviegoers are concerned.

In any event, all signs point to Paramount announcing "Scream 7" sooner rather than later. Even if the core cast is going to want more money, and even if Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett decide to hand the reins to another filmmaker, the math still checks out. "Scream" has been revived rather impressively and the studio would do well to capitalize on the momentum they have right now. Rest assured, they'll probably do precisely that until the money starts drying up. So start fan casting the next Ghostface because this is pretty much a done deal.