“Scream 7” slashes its way to franchise-best $97 million in astounding premiere at the global box office

Ryan ColemanSun, March 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM UTC

0

'Scream 7' from Paramount PicturesCredit: ParamountKey Points -

Scream 7 opened to a remarkable $64 million at the domestic box office with $97.2 million abroad.

Those figures represent a franchise best, eclipsing runner-up Scream 6's premiere earnings by $20 million.

Next week's big release set to challenge Scream 7 for box office supremacy is Maggie Gyllenhaal's Bride of Frankenstein reimagining, The Bride.

The Scream franchise is back, and more lethal than ever.

Scream 7 ripped into theaters this weekend with a staggering $64 million domestic debut and $97.2 million globally, per box office tracker Comscore.

Those figures are impressive in their own rights amid a box office landscape that has yet to yield any major hits for 2026. But there are numerous ways of slicing and dicing Scream 7's premiere performance that show just how blood-curdling a coup writer-director Kevin Williamson and producer Spyglass Media Group have pulled off.

Not only do Scream 7's domestic and global opening figures represent the best of the franchise to date, they also far outpace the series' previous top earner.

Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox star in Scream 7Credit: Paramount

Scream 6 opened in 2023 to $44.4 million domestically. That figure itself was a huge improvement at the time on Scream 3's record-breaking $34.7 million from 2000. Scream 7's domestic tally alone of $64 million actually matches what its predecessor scooped up around the world just three years ago.

The film also surpassed the previous weeks' projections, which pegged Scream 7 to a max gross of $60 million in its opening weekend.

Another impressive facet of Scream 7's success is the years of controversy the film emerges from. After Scream 6's successful open in 2023, star Melissa Barrera was fired from the franchise after posting supportively of Palestinians amid Israel's ongoing war on the country. Her costar, Jenna Ortega then dropped out, and Christopher Landon, who was originally tapped to direct Scream 7, also jumped ship, saying it "all came tumbling down" after Barrera's firing.

Advertisement

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

The rest of the domestic leaderboard this weekend is dominated by films well into their release cycles. Steph Curry's animated basketball flick GOAT scooped up $12 million after three weeks in theaters, making for a $74 million domestic gross thus far, and $130.4 million globally.

GOAT secured the No. 2 spot under Scream 7 and above the weekend's bronze medal winner, Wuthering Heights. The windswept romantic drama earned $6.9 million, also in its third week, for a domestic total of $72.3 million and global haul of $192 million.

Zootopia 2, meanwhile, continues to walk on the longest legs in recent box office history, hanging on for dear life to the domestic leaderboard in the 10th spot with a $1.4 million week 14 take. The film's stunning domestic earnings to this point now stand at $425.8 million, with $1.85 billion globally.

Scream 7's lead on next week's box office race seems fairly well secured. But one big new release has the potential to give it good competition, despite its angling toward the art house crowd.

Maggie Gyllenhaal's feminist Frankenstein reimagining, The Bride, comes to life next weekend. The film starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale is likely going to have a tough time drawing comparable crowds to a blood-soaked slasher. But the film has been the beneficiary of a sizable marketing campaign, and will be aided by Buckley's star shining brighter than ever as this year's Best Actress frontrunner for her performance in Hamnet.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”