Roughly a decade ago, Hollywood decided that crude, politically incorrect humor was a commercial and cultural liability. The #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements were gaining momentum, and studio executives (largely liberal and intensely risk averse) stopped supporting offense-courting comedies like “Ted” and “Tropic Thunder.” Why invite a Twitter firestorm?
That period of timidity — some would call it “wokeism” — may have ended over the weekend.
“The culture is ready for a level of outrageousness that has been missing,” Josh Goldstine, the president of global marketing and distribution at Paramount Pictures, said on Sunday. “You have to have the willingness, the courageousness, to just go for it.”
“Scary Movie,” marketed by Paramount with the slogans “canceling cancel culture” and “lines will be crossed,” collected an estimated $55 million at North American theaters over the weekend, according to Comscore, a data service. That total, easily enough for No. 1, was roughly 22 percent more than box office analysts had predicted before the movie’s release based on advance ticket sales and surveys that track moviegoer interest.
The opening for “Scary Movie” was the biggest for an R-rated comedy in 12 years. In 2014, the vulgar “22 Jump Street” took in $57 million in its first three days, or about $80 million after adjusting for inflation.
“Scary Movie,” a reboot of the 2000s-era parody franchise created by the Wayans family, cost an estimated $30 million to make, not including marketing. It was produced by Miramax, which is co-owned by Paramount and the Qatari company beIN Media. The film was distributed by Paramount, which was taken over last year by David Ellison.
Overseas, “Scary Movie” collected an additional $50.5 million, for a global opening total of $105.5 million.
“A safe comedy wasn’t going to be a clutter buster,” said Jonathan Glickman, the chief executive of Miramax. Speaking of Mr. Ellison and his team, Mr. Glickman added, “We and the new administration at Paramount really felt ‘Scary Movie’ and the Wayans could be the gateway to bringing back R-rated comedy — branded movies, but also R-rated originals.”
For the weekend in North America, “Masters of the Universe” fizzled in second place. The movie, which cost Amazon MGM Studios more than $200 million to make and market, debuted to roughly $29 million in ticket sales, which was about 17 percent less than analysts had forecast. “Masters of the Universe” was an attempt to turn Mattel’s line of He-Man toys from the 1980s into a modern film franchise.
Nostalgia may not have worked in He-Man’s favor, but it almost certainly boosted interest in “Scary Movie.” According to exit polls conducted by PostTrak, a Hollywood research service, about 88 percent of “Scary Movie” ticket buyers in the United States and Canada described themselves as fans of the franchise, which has been dormant since 2013.
“A lot of people have grown up with the earlier movies,” Mr. Glickman said, noting that 72 percent of “Scary Movie” ticket buyers over the weekend were under the age of 34.
Keenen Ivory Wayans directed the first “Scary Movie” in 2000 from a script written by Shawn and Marlon Wayans (and four others). By 2006, the original film and three sequels had collected an astounding $818 million worldwide.
An attempt to restart the series in 2013 went poorly. Stars like Anna Faris and Regina Hall had moved on. More crucially, the Wayans were no longer involved: Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who controlled the rights, had brazenly cut out the Wayans amid a dispute over compensation. “Scary Movie 5” collected only $32 million in North America over its entire run.
The new “Scary Movie” also benefited from pent-up demand for a comedy (R-rated or otherwise) with Black stars, analysts said. Eleven members of the Wayans family appear in the film to varying degrees. Ms. Hall and Teyana Taylor have major roles. Kenan Thompson, Anthony Anderson, Shaquille O’Neal and the popular YouTube comedian Kai Cenat have cameos.
As with the previous films, much of the humor in “Scary Movie” comes from mocking horror movies. Horror is currently a blisteringly hot genre at the box office, as evidenced by recent runaway hits like “Backrooms” and “Obsession.”
A lot of moviegoers also seemed ready to laugh at taboo jokes about race, gender, sexuality and mental illness. Spoiler alert: The “woke” character in “Scary Movie” dies a humiliating death.
“We wanted to tap into the larger zeitgeist around where people are in terms of laughter,” Mr. Goldstine said. “If we can all laugh together — laugh at each other, laugh at ourselves — something kind of infectious and exciting can happen culturally.”
Critics were not on board. Reviews were 26 percent positive, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Brandon Yu, reviewing “Scary Movie” for The New York Times, wrote that the film, which was directed by Michael Tiddes, relied on “throwback humor” that was “lazy and boring half a generation ago.” He added, “The already low-grade franchise has taken a dismaying turn for the worse.”
Even so, the weekend was a triumph for Miramax and Mr. Glickman, who took over the boutique film company in 2024. Miramax had been working on a “Scary Movie” reboot that excluded the Wayans, but Mr. Glickman fought to scrap that project and bring back the brothers.
“I knew that they would be allowed to go to a very edgy place at a time when a lot of people are still concerned about how edgy theatrical comedy can be,” Mr. Glickman said.
Miramax is likely to move forward with more “Scary Movie” sequels. Mr. Glickman and his team are also working on a sequel to the R-rated comedy “Bad Santa” from 2003. “Hopefully, these guys have reopened the R-rated floodgates,” Mr. Glickman said.
