“Spider-Man: No Way Home” has been seated firmly atop the box office charts for weeks since its release, but now finally there is a new victor in the movie realm. The new horror flick “Scream” officially eclipsed the superhero film over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, earning $32 million in total sales.
But that doesn’t mean “Scream” has a chance of getting anywhere close to the lifetime sales of “No Way Home,” which currently sit at $702.9 million. According to Variety, the latest “Spider-Man” movie has become the fourth highest grossing domestic release of all time, with only “Avatar” ($760 million), “Avengers: Endgame” ($858 million) and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($936 million) making more money.
“Scream” was a surprise hit, but for long-time fans of the franchise it shouldn’t have been a shock at all. While “Scream 4” was a huge disappointment to the fan base, the newest iteration took care to go back to the movie’s roots. That meant bringing back veteran characters including Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox. Even the name payed homage to the original movie.
The new “Scream” has been described as a “requel” – that puts it someplace between a reboot and a sequel. And while the original film’s creator Wes Craven died in 2015, it’s clear that fans are on board for a second take on the horror movie that redefined the genre when it came out in 1996.
The latest version of “Scream” succeeds because it pokes fun at itself and includes so many self-referential jokes and one-liners that keep it from being corny. It currently boasts a 75% critic score and 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Looper summed it up best, saying,
“‘Scream’ is wonderfully written, expertly directed, and acted by a cast of newcomers who dive headlong into the joyous chaos of the franchise, giving their all to even the wildest moments. It’s a film made with love for what came before, but also with a fierce independent spirit, and a sense that the only way to truly honor the previous films is by blazing a new trail.”
The reviewer goes on to describe how the new “Scream” addresses how social media and the internet in general has changed movie-making forever, all because fans are more connected than ever with the people making them.
The reviewer continued, saying, “It’s a film about the nature of horror fandom, the constant narrative nitpicking that the age of film YouTube has brought us, the peril of sequel cycles and the paradoxical magic trick that is giving the fans what they want while subverting what they expect at the same time.”
Meanwhile, “No Way Home” is yet another sequel that succeeded because it catered to fan demands but still kept them guessing. Plus, as Daily Wire pointed out just after its release, the new “Spider-Man” was lacking in woke propaganda that so many modern movies feature. Audience responded by getting out their wallets and buying tickets.
Both movies are currently showing in theaters.