'Scream' Topples 'Spider-Man' As Weekend Box Office Champ

“Scream,” the fifth installment in the horror film franchise, displaced “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as the top title at the U.S. box office this weekend, bringing in $31.5 million from 3,664 screens, according to data published by Deadline.

What Happened: “Scream,” which is being released by ViacomCBS' VIAC Paramount unit, is the first new entry in the franchise since “Scream 4” in 2011. It also marks the first Paramount release to secure the number one position at the box office since “A Quiet Place Part II” opened last May – the studio canceled nearly all of its Fall 2021 releases out of concerns over the impact of COVID-19 on film exhibition.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” a Sony Pictures SONY release, entered its fifth week in theatrical release as the second most popular U.S. film with $20.8 million from 3,925 screens. The animated “Sing 2” from Comcast’s CMCSA Universal Pictures was the third most popular film with $8.27 million in ticket sales from 3,581 screens – the film also debuted over the weekend as a premium video on demand title.

Rounding out the top five films was “The King’s Man” from Walt Disney Co.’s DIS 20th Century Studios with $2.3 million from 2,510 venues and Universal’s “The 355” with $2.34 million from 3,145 theaters.

Aside from “Scream,” the only other film making its premiere this weekend that cracked the top 10 list was the anime feature “Belle” from GKIDS, which ranked seventh with $1.64 million from 1,326 theaters.

What Happens Next: Two new films will be going into nationwide theatrical release this coming weekend, and both have been on a long road to the big screen.

Universal Pictures’ “Redeeming Love” is a romantic drama set during the 1850 California Gold Rush. The film is based on Francine Rivers’ 1991 best-selling faith-based novel, although a film adaptation did not commence until March 2020 when production began in South Africa – which apparently looks more like Old California than today’s state.

Gravitas Ventures’ adventure-fantasy “The King’s Daughter” starring Pierce Brosnan as France’s King Louis XIV and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing as a mermaid who attracts the monarch’s attention. The bulk of the film’s production occurred in 2014 and was it scheduled for release that year through Paramount Pictures, but the studio abruptly canceled its distribution three weeks before its premiere. Gravitas acquired the film last October.

Also opening this coming weekend are two independent films in limited release: The World War II-based horror film “WarHunt” starring Mickey Rourke and the family-friendly drama “The Tiger Rising” starring Dennis Quaid and Queen Latifah. Both of these films have also been on the shelf for a while – “WarHunt” was shot in early 2020 and “The Tiger Rising” was produced in 2019.

Also Happening: Ben Affleck has seen the future, and he claims it will consist of movie theaters showing nothing but big-budget superhero movies.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Affleck insisted that his 2012 film “Argo,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, could not find a venue in today’s cinema environment.

“If I had to bet, a drama like ‘Argo’ would not be made theatrically now,” Affleck said. “That wasn't that long ago. It would be a limited series. I think movies in theaters are going to become more expensive, event-sized. They're mostly going to be for younger people, and mostly about ‘Hey, I'm so into the Marvel Universe, I can't wait to see what happens next.’ And there'll be 40 movies a year theatrically, probably, all IP, sequel, animated.”

Affleck based his forecast on the dismal commercial showing for “The Last Duel,” the $100 million medieval epic that cast the actor with Matt Damon and Adam Driver under Ridley Scott’s direction. Despite the star power involved, “The Last Duel” crashed in its October opening and only grossed roughly $30 million at the box office for Disney's 20th Century Studios.

“‘The Last Duel’ really clinched it for me,” he continued. “I've had bad movies that didn't work and I didn't blink. I know why people didn't go – because they weren't good. But I liked what we did. I like what we had to say. I'm really proud of it. So I was really confused. And then to see that it did well on streaming, I thought, 'Well, there you go. That's where the audience is.'”

But that’s not to say the industry is over Affleck – he received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for his most recent film, “The Tender Bar,” which was directed by George Clooney and given a limited theatrical release last month by Amazon AMZN before having its streaming premiere on Jan. 7 on Amazon Prime Video.

Photo: "Scream," courtesy of Paramount.