After an 11-year hiatus, Ghostface is back, terrifying the townspeople of Woodsboro. The first film in the Scream franchise not to be directed by Wes Craven, Scream (colloquially known as Scream 5) is helmed by the directing duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, both of whom previously directed 2014’s Devil’s Due, and 2019’s Ready or Not. Through its first four films, between 1996 and 2011, the franchise has earned just over $600 million worldwide. The latest installment, which had a $24-million production budget, brings back franchise veterans Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell along with a cast of new faces. Scream will open in 3,664 theaters. Also opening in wide release this week is the Japanese animated science fantasy film Belle. The film, which was the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, is set to arrive in an estimated 1,300 locations.
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December box office numbers helped 2016 end on ... a note. The good news and the bad news almost exactly balance out. On the one hand, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will finish the year with more than $400 million after just 16 days of release. That’s a stunning amount of money that helped 2016 earn a record box office at the domestic market. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned $650 million during December of 2015, so the month lost a lot of its lead over 2015, so much so that ticket sales fell behind last year’s total. The weakness at the end of the year will spill over into 2017, which is terrible news. A slow start could result in the dominant box office story being 2017 struggles compared to 2016. Bad news like this can sometimes become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sadly, 2017 is also going to get off to a slow start when it comes to wide releases / expansions. There are 16 films scheduled to open or expand wide this month and none of them are expected to get to $100 million. It is likely none of them will even get very close. xXx: Return of Xander Cage is expected to be the best of a weak bunch, but I could see it getting beat by one of the five Oscar contenders opening wide this month, if it gets off to a slow start and one of the Oscar contenders starts picking up steam. Hidden Figures got off to a great start on Christmas Day and should it continue to earn Awards Season recognition, including some Oscar nominations, it could be in wide release well into February. Last January wasn’t as busy with 13 films opening or expanding wide over five weeks. Of these, two of them, The Revenant and Kung Fu Panda 3, topped $100 million domestically, while another, Ride Along 2, came close. 2017 is going to get destroyed in the year-over-year comparison.
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