Paramount’s Scary Movie revival landed exactly where a studio wants a returning franchise to land: at No. 1. The film opened to £4.1 million, or about $5.6 million, topping a busy U.K. and Ireland box office weekend crowded with new releases.
How did the top new releases perform?
The weekend’s top three was made entirely of fresh arrivals, which is not always how this goes, despite everyone’s best intentions and marketing budgets.
Scary Movie took first place for Paramount with its £4.1 million debut. The number gives the comedy-horror reboot a strong start in a market where familiar titles still carry real weight, particularly when they arrive with built-in audience memory and a decent supply of chaos.
In second place, Piece Of Magic Entertainment’s The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act opened with $3.6 million. Sony’s fantasy epic Masters Of The Universe followed closely at No. 3 with $3.5 million.
That made for a tight upper tier, with three very different audience propositions: a resurrected parody franchise, an animated digital-world title, and a large-scale fantasy property. Subtle programming, this was not.
Which holdovers stayed in the race?
A24’s psychological horror Backrooms slipped to fourth place in its second weekend, adding $3 million. Its cumulative total now stands at $11.6 million, a solid figure for a genre title built more on atmosphere and unease than cheerful escapism.
Universal’s horror-romance Obsession placed fifth in its fourth weekend, taking $2.5 million. The film has reached $13.8 million overall.
Disney’s The Mandalorian And Grogu came in sixth during its third weekend with $1.8 million, bringing its total to $18.8 million. Universal’s biographical musical drama Michael landed in seventh in its seventh week, also earning $1.8 million. Its cumulative total is now $67.7 million, still the largest running total among the weekend’s top 10.
What rounded out the top 10?
Sony’s The Sheep Detectives took eighth place in its fifth frame, adding $745,302 for a total of $12.4 million.
Disney’s The Devil Wears Prada 2 followed in ninth during its sixth week, earning $730,187 and lifting its cumulative gross to $44.8 million.
Black Bear’s Tuner completed the top 10 in its second weekend, taking $583,456. Its total now stands at $1.4 million.
The lower half of the chart shows the usual mix of durable studio titles, specialist breakouts, and films trying to keep their heads above water while the next wave of releases approaches. Cinema scheduling remains a contact sport, just with popcorn.
What is opening next in cinemas?
The next frame brings a busy mix of mid-week studio releases, independent films, documentaries, international titles, and restorations.
Universal leads the new arrivals on Wednesday, June 11 with Disclosure Day, directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Colman Domingo, and is set to open in more than 300 locations. With Spielberg’s name on the poster and a cast built for adult attention, it is positioned as the biggest new theatrical play of the week.
On Friday, June 12, Trinity CineAsia releases the anime feature Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway.
Mubi will open Sean Robert Dunn’s The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford in more than 25 sites. Netflix is also giving Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante a limited theatrical run on fewer than 25 screens.
Which smaller releases and restorations are joining the slate?
Several specialty and documentary titles are also entering the market.
- Two Fresh Distribution is releasing the documentary Kapodistrias, (The Governor).
- Fight Like A Girl arrives through the Underground Slate banner.
- Dogwoof Films debuts Sara Dosa’s climate documentary Time and Water.
- Entertainment Film Distributors releases Solo Mio.
- Singeetham Srinivasa Rao’s Telugu musical fantasy Sing Geetham also joins the schedule.
Repertory and restoration programming will add more options for audiences who prefer their cinema history polished and projected. A wide reissue of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (4K Restoration) is set for more than 100 locations.
Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom returns in a 4K restoration across more than 25 screens, while BFI Distribution will handle a smaller art-house reissue of James Bidgood’s Pink Narcissus.
For exhibitors, the coming week offers breadth: a Spielberg launch, anime, documentaries, international cinema, and restored classics. For audiences, it means the difficult part may be choosing what to see, which is at least one problem the industry is happy to have.
