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Masters of the Universe and Scary Movie faced off this weekend, and it was comedy who had the power with audiences.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, the parody revival made $55 million in North America for the best opening the series has ever seen. Add in another $50.5 million from international territories, and $105.5 million worldwide ain’t a bad start. In fact, it’s already outperformed Scary Movie 5 ($78.4 million) and Scary Movie 2 ($141.2 million), and in spitting distance from Scary Movie 4’s $178.7 million.
Working as a soft reboot, this sixth installment’s had pretty strong marketing in the months since its first trailer. Bringing back the Wayans, Anna Faris and Regina Hall further helped cement this as a true return for the series, and it doesn’t hurt that the last few years of horror gave the writers plenty to work with. Reviews may not be great, but that’s nothing new for these movies, so word of mouth mattered more here. Much like Scream or Final Destination, we can probably expect more of these in the next few years.
Meanwhile, Masters of the Universe didn’t do so hot in North America, where it made $29.3 million. An additional $25 million from foreign markets puts it at $54.3 million worldwide, which doesn’t seem to matter in Amazon MGM’s eyes. Kevin Wilson, its head of domestic theatrical distribution, told press Masters’ opening “validates our holistic distribution strategy — building awareness and engagement that will carry well beyond the theatrical window.” In other words, it’s fine if the movie doesn’t really land on the big screen with audiences, not when it can easily find a second life on Prime Video. Enough of a life to justify a potential sequel? Who can say.
And what of our old horror friends, Backrooms and Obsession? They’re still riding high, with the latter crossing $200 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing Focus movie ever. In its second weekend and at $212 million worldwide, Backrooms holds the same distinction for A24 despite having a 70% domestic drop. (Obsession, for what its worth, had a mere 7% fall in weekend four.) These two are going to keep being big deals until they leave theaters, and even then, we’ll still be talking about their successes.
Finally, The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act earned $20.7 million domestic. The finale to Glitch’s flagship webseries was only supposed to have a four-day run on the big screen, but that later expanded to two weeks, and widened to include screenings in other countries and regions. At time of writing, it’s unclear how it did outside North America, but it seems to be a success for the studio regardless and hitting for fans who drove out to see it.
We’ll see how Scary Movie and Masters do as the June movies keep piling up, continuing with Disclosure Day and The Furious on June 12.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
