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‘Scary Movie’ Tops Box Office, Slaying ‘Masters of the Universe’ and Adding to Low-Budget Streak

(L-R) US actor/producer/writer Shawn Wayans, US actor Anthony Anderson and US actor/producer/writer Marlon Wayans attend Paramount's "Scary Movie" premiere at the Paramount theater in Los Angeles on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
(L-R) US actor/producer/writer Shawn Wayans, US actor Anthony Anderson and US actor/producer/writer Marlon Wayans attend Paramount's "Scary Movie" premiere at the Paramount theater in Los Angeles on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
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‘Scary Movie’ Tops Box Office, Slaying ‘Masters of the Universe’ and Adding to Low-Budget Streak

(L-R) US actor/producer/writer Shawn Wayans, US actor Anthony Anderson and US actor/producer/writer Marlon Wayans attend Paramount's "Scary Movie" premiere at the Paramount theater in Los Angeles on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
(L-R) US actor/producer/writer Shawn Wayans, US actor Anthony Anderson and US actor/producer/writer Marlon Wayans attend Paramount's "Scary Movie" premiere at the Paramount theater in Los Angeles on June 3, 2026. (AFP)

The summer box office is booming — but not because of the usual suspects.

After three weeks of indie horror dominance at the box office, the slasher spoof “Scary Movie” topped ticket sales with $55 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, easily besting the far-from-mighty “Masters of the Universe.”

A new order has lately come to movie theaters, which have seen Gen Z ticket buyers flock to the horror hits “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” both made by YouTubers-turned-filmmakers. Those movies have even outshone The Walt Disney Co.’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.”

This weekend, comedy was the underdog champ. Though the genre has been all but left for dead in theaters, the sixth “Scary Movie” notched a franchise-best $105.5 million global launch. The Wayans brother comedy even outdid its primary satirical target, the “Scream” franchise. Earlier this year, “Scream 7” debuted with $97 million worldwide.

Both franchises are distributed by Paramount Pictures, though Miramax produced the new “Scary Movie.” Co-written by Marlon, Shawn, Keenan and Craig Wayans, the sequel marks the Wayans’ return to the franchise after their departure over creative differences following 2001’s “Scary Movie 2.”

“This is an outstanding opening for a comedy sequel this far into the series,” said David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe. "It’s a huge bounceback after the last episode crashed in 2013 when Anna Faris and Regina Hall were excluded. The weekend figure is triple the average for the genre.”

Reviews weren’t good (26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores (a “B” CinemaScore) were so-so. But that didn’t stop the $30-million “Scary Movie” from dominating its much bigger budget competition.

“Masters of the Universe,” a sword and sorcery action adventure based on the 1980s animated series and Mattel toys, failed to revive the dormant franchise. The Amazon MGM release, the second “Masters of the Universe” film following a 1987 movie of the same title, opened with $29.3 million domestically.

“Masters of the Universe,” starring Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man, added $25 million overseas. But for a film that cost nearly $200 million to produce, a much higher launch was needed to make profitability likely.

It’s Mattel Studios’ first release since 2023’s “Barbie.” But after the extraordinary $1.45 billion success of that film, “Masters of the Universe” will be closer to a flop for the toy company.

A24’s “Backrooms,” last weekend’s top release, slid steeply on its second weekend, dropping 68% with $25.9 million. But “Backrooms,” a $10 million movie based on 20-year-old Kane Parson’s YouTube series remains a record-breaking phenomenon. It's now A24’s highest grossing film ever with $212 million worldwide, moving ahead of “Marty Supreme."

In a near tie for third place, Focus Features’ “Obsession” grossed $25.6 million in its fourth weekend. That marked a paltry 7% drop from the previous weekend for 26-year-old Curry Barker’s horror sensation. Not accounting for inflation, no horror movie has ever had a better fourth weekend.

“Obsession,” about a man who wishes his crush returned his affections, was made for less than $1 million. It’s now grossed $152.1 million domestically and $224.8 million worldwide — a record for Focus.

In its third weekend, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” fell all the way to sixth place with $10 million. It was even bested by Fathom Entertainment’s “The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act,” a combination of the last two episodes of the animated series. It collected $12.7 million.

A few other movies hit milestones.

Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” became the studio’s highest grossing film ever with $898 million globally. That puts it ahead, not accounting for inflation, both the highest grossing entries in the studio’s “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” franchises.

And 2026 got its first billion-dollar movie. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” crossed $1 billion worldwide for Universal.

The weekend overall was up a remarkable 63% from the same weekend last year, according to Comscore. Ticket sales on the year are up more than 13%. Next weekend, Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” debuts.

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Entertainment

Director Maggie Gyllenhaal Ditched AI for Marilyn Monroe Film

President of Venezia 83 Competition jury Maggie Gyllenhaal poses on the red carpet on the day of the opening ceremony of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, September 2, 2026. (Reuters)
President of Venezia 83 Competition jury Maggie Gyllenhaal poses on the red carpet on the day of the opening ceremony of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, September 2, 2026. (Reuters)
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Director Maggie Gyllenhaal Ditched AI for Marilyn Monroe Film

President of Venezia 83 Competition jury Maggie Gyllenhaal poses on the red carpet on the day of the opening ceremony of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, September 2, 2026. (Reuters)
President of Venezia 83 Competition jury Maggie Gyllenhaal poses on the red carpet on the day of the opening ceremony of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, September 2, 2026. (Reuters)

Actress-director Maggie Gyllenhaal said Friday she had abandoned using AI video-generation technology for her upcoming film about Marilyn Monroe because "it fundamentally did not work."

The American is head of the jury at this year's Venice Film Festival, but she is also premiering her new 17-minute film depicting 1950s screen icon Monroe.

The short movie imagines Monroe as a 100-year-old, with Dakota Johnson playing her before her death in 1962.

"The people who commissioned this project from me asked me to use AI," Gyllenhaal told a panel discussion about AI in Venice.

"They were using licensable AI, training it off of Marilyn Monroe films that we had licensed. And I went for it. I was like, 'All right, I'm curious. I don't know. Let's see'," Gyllenhaal told The Future of Creativity event.

"And it fundamentally did not work. We worked hard at it, and in the end, I threw it away because what was coming through Dakota playing Marilyn Monroe was so much more moving, human, alive."

Her statement underlines the current limitations of AI video technology, which has sparked fears about the impact on jobs throughout the film and TV industries.

The "Dark Knight" actress and director of "The Lost Daughter" also revealed how AI companies are seeking to license the images of actors in order to reproduce them through software.

"Someone who I respect a lot theoretically asked me to consider the idea of asking actors who trust me, because I have a lot of actors who trust me that I love, and they should trust me to give me their likeness and to make a film with them," she said.

"I thought it's completely and absolutely different paradigm than how I think, how I work," she added.

Entertainment

Fall Movie Season is Here. Here Are 5 Early Oscar Predictions

FILE - An Oscar statuette sits on display at an opening event for the "Meet The Oscars, New York" exhibit at the Time Warner Center in New York, Feb. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
FILE - An Oscar statuette sits on display at an opening event for the "Meet The Oscars, New York" exhibit at the Time Warner Center in New York, Feb. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
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Fall Movie Season is Here. Here Are 5 Early Oscar Predictions

FILE - An Oscar statuette sits on display at an opening event for the "Meet The Oscars, New York" exhibit at the Time Warner Center in New York, Feb. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
FILE - An Oscar statuette sits on display at an opening event for the "Meet The Oscars, New York" exhibit at the Time Warner Center in New York, Feb. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

Fall movie season also means Oscar season.

It might be only just September, but the jockeying for next March's Academy Awards is well underway. Movies first started revving up their Oscar campaigns at the Cannes Film Festival in May. But now that the fall festivals, in Venice, Telluride and soon Toronto, are in full swing, so is the prognosticating about what's in the mix for awards.

There is much still to come. Sandworms! (“Dune: Part III”) Old Tom Cruise! (“Digger”) Oh my! But here's an early survey of the Oscar landscape, with a few predictions mixed in.

‘The Odyssey’ won't end up the best picture favorite. At this point, Christopher Nolan's epic deserves to be considered the movie to beat. His previous film, “Oppenheimer,” steamrolled its way to best picture and Nolan's first Oscar, for best director. His singular stature is such that back-to-back wins might sound good to academy members. But “The Odyssey” isn't quite as well-loved as “Oppenheimer,” and, fun fact, no movie that Homer translators have come out against has ever won best picture. OK, so that's a small subset. But being the front-runner for more than half a year is hard, and the academy has largely favored smaller films in recent years. This prediction could come back to bite me, but, right now, I'd take the field.

The New York movie is alive and well. It's going to be a good fall for NYC. A number of the season's standouts derive a lot of their texture and grit from the Big Apple. That includes Jordan Firstman's hysterical and surprisingly tender “Club Kid” (Nov. 6), in which he stars as a gay clubgoer who finds out he has a child; “Paper Tiger” (Nov. 13), James Gray's engrossing Queens-set drama about family and 1980s mafia corruption; “The Only Living Pickpocket” (Oct. 23), starring John Turturro as an aging pickpocket in a much-changed New York; “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” (Oct. 16), a long-in-coming documentary chronicling a 1972 gathering of Harlem Renaissance luminaries; and “The History of Concrete” (Sept. 18), John Wilson's delightfully meandering documentary about concrete and creativity.

Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich. Get ready to be reminded of this fact: John Malkovich has never won an Oscar. The twice-nominated actor (for “Places in the Heart” and “In the Line of Fire”) may have his best shot yet with his performance in Martin McDonagh's “Wild Horse Nine.” In it, he stars alongside Sam Rockwell as an aging CIA agent who's grown tired of keeping secrets on a trip to Easter Island in the early 1970s. Like Malkovich's best roles, his performance is full of wit, soulfulness and profanity.

The ‘Obsession’ sensation isn't over yet. Curry Barker's “One Wish Willow” horror movie has already set plenty of records, including being one of the most profitable movies ever made.

But Focus Features is also preparing an awards campaign for the low-budget hit that could have “Obsession” competing in many of the top Oscar categories, including best picture and best actress for Inde Navarrette. It won't be the only early 2026 release to factor in the mix, though. Expect to hear more from Christopher Miller and Phil Lord's “Project Hail Mary” and Olivia Wilde's “The Invite,” among others.

At the Oscars, international film is here to stay. As in recent years, many of the top Academy Awards contenders are sure to hail from overseas. The makeup of the academy has grown more international in recent years, and global nominees have increasingly reflected that. Some of this year's standouts include:

— “All of a Sudden” (Nov. 25), an expansively tender Paris-set drama from Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”)
— “Fjord” (Oct. 9), Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or-winning Norway-set drama about political polarization
— “La Bola Negra” (Oct. 16), an epic that spans the interconnected lives of three gay men in Spain
— “Minotaur” (Nov. 20), Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev's drama about betrayal and murder in Putin's Russia
— “Possible Love” (Oct. 23), Lee Chang-dong's awaited follow-up to 2018's acclaimed “Burning,” about two couples making a documentary
— “Fatherland” (Oct. 23), Paweł Pawlikowski's exquisite black-and-white drama about postwar Germany
— “Clarissa” (Dec. 11), Arie and Chuko Esiri‘s shimmering Nigeria-set reinterpretation of Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway”

Entertainment

Martin McDonagh’s 'Wild Horse Nine' Hits Venice Film Festival with a Dark CIA Tale

Actors John Malkovich (R) and Sam Rockwell (L) with director Martin McDonagh (C) arrive at the Lido Beach for the Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, 03 September 2026. (EPA)
Actors John Malkovich (R) and Sam Rockwell (L) with director Martin McDonagh (C) arrive at the Lido Beach for the Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, 03 September 2026. (EPA)
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Martin McDonagh’s 'Wild Horse Nine' Hits Venice Film Festival with a Dark CIA Tale

Actors John Malkovich (R) and Sam Rockwell (L) with director Martin McDonagh (C) arrive at the Lido Beach for the Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, 03 September 2026. (EPA)
Actors John Malkovich (R) and Sam Rockwell (L) with director Martin McDonagh (C) arrive at the Lido Beach for the Venice International Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, 03 September 2026. (EPA)

Martin McDonagh had written a few versions of his new film “Wild Horse Nine,” which receives its world premiere on Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, before he homed in on the CIA and the 1973 military coup in Chile.

One was about a father and son, another was about two actors. But nothing was quite working until he started thinking about the historical event that had fascinated him since he was a teenager.

“I realized then that the story could be about one of the guys experiencing guilt and regret over all these things he’s done,” the British-Irish filmmaker said. “It took it away from being a simple comedy to something much deeper and sadder.”

“Wild Horse Nine,” which stars Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich as a pair of CIA agents on a trip to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 coup, is one of the most anticipated movies at the festival where it’s in competition for the Golden Lion. It will have a theatrical release later this year and, if McDonagh’s track record is any indication, might be an awards player.

McDonagh's previous two films, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” both bowed at Venice and went on to receive multiple Oscar nominations, including best picture. “Three Billboards” won two, for Rockwell and Frances McDormand.

When someone suggested that “Wild Horse Nine” might be Malkovich’s ticket to an Oscar win after two nominations, he said, “the nicest thing is that the film gets attention.”

“I’ve had a long career, and I’ve had really spectacular collaborators and collaborations,” Malkovich said. “So I never feel in competition with any of them because generally I love what they do.”

McDonagh had pursued Malkovich for previous films, but he’d always had prior commitments. The actor said he wanted to make sure he would be available for this one.

“It’s a film that, with great humor, addresses two very traumatic occurrences — the death of John F. Kennedy and Chilean coup — with grace and intelligence and a kind of fairness,” Malkovich said.

“Wild Horse Nine” is one of the few Hollywood films to have been made on Easter Island, where they had to transport cameras and period-specific cars. Parker Posey, who plays Rockwell’s wife, even flew in to do off-camera phone scenes.

“What a mystical place,” said Posey, who also appears on camera as well.

Another newcomer to McDonagh’s world was Steve Buscemi, who said he “practically stalked” McDonagh at the Venice Film Festival a few years ago to tell him, “you have to work with me right?”

McDonagh said that it’s one of the best film experiences he’s ever had.

At the heart of the film is the complicated relationship between Rockwell’s Lee and Malkovich’s Chris, who seems increasingly agitated, prickly and forgetful, bogged down by the weight of the historical events he’s covertly had a hand in.

McDonagh wanted to make a pointed film about the CIA and the “awful things they’ve done all around the world,” he said.

“We know what the KGB are like but we probably don’t question the CIA as much as we ought to,” McDonagh said. “I’m always questioning, even in the less political films, I like to question authority or what we’re told.”

The film was meant to be a historical piece about the 1973 Chilean coup, and yet McDonagh has been struck by the tentacles and connections to current events, like the US capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“They don’t seem to be making it covert anymore,” McDonagh said. “It just feels like things are getting stupider, and stupider and stupider.”

He added: “Watching it now, it does seem to have a sort of commentary on present day geopolitics. It’s going to be fascinating to see how an audience takes it.”