‘Scream 2’ Is a Real Howl at Box Office

“Scream 2” drowned out all competition at the movie box office this weekend, pulling in an estimated $39.2 million to become the biggest-opening horror film of all time.

Anticipation for the sequel to Wes Craven’s 1996 hit was high, especially among its target teen audience. Dimension/Miramax put the movie on 3,112 screens nationwide, and clearly the demand was there. The movie’s gross represents the biggest December opening ever and accounted for more than half of the overall box-office take for the weekend.

The weekend’s other highly anticipated debut was Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad,” which grossed $4.6 million in limited release. At least temporarily unshackled from a legal challenge that threatened to keep it out of theaters, the DreamWorks film entered the market in New York and Los Angeles last Wednesday, and on 322 screens nationwide on Friday, a release pattern similar to last year’s Oscar-winning “The English Patient.” The film had an impressive per-screen average of $14,300. Exit polls show the audience to be primarily adult, and half African American.

“Amistad” will continue a gradual roll-out in the coming weeks, as other high-profile holiday films will make their debuts, but only James Cameron’s epic “Titanic” would seem to have a chance at matching the opening performance of “Scream 2.”

“I think it’s actually a testament to the first film, and how it became a popular sensation,” said David Kaminow, senior vice president for marketing at Miramax. “The word of mouth was so great on that film. And people saw through the marketing the fact that Wes Craven and [screenwriter] Kevin Williamson are back.”

The original “Scream,” which grossed a total of $103 million, opened to only $6.4 million at the box office a year ago and grew on good word of mouth. The most it ever made in one weekend was $10.5 million.

The rule of thumb for most sequels is that they sell two-thirds the number of tickets the original did. But Miramax has much higher hopes for “Scream 2,” which cost only $24 million to make.

While the “Scream 2” take was impressive, it was still $13 million shy of the record non-holiday opening set by “Batman Forever” in the summer of 1995. Two other horror films have broken $30 million in their debut weekend: “Interview With the Vampire” in 1994 and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” in 1992.

Disney/Buena Vista’s “Flubber” slipped from first to second this weekend with $6.9 million, and a $59-million total to date. The rest of the Top Five was dominated by newcomers. Universal’s comedy “For Richer or Poorer,” with Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley, took in $6 million. Fox’s “Home Alone 3” grossed $5.1 million. “Amistad’s” gross, even in limited release, was good enough for fifth place.

The rest of the Top 10 this weekend: No. 6, Paramount’s “John Grisham’s The Rainmaker,” with $3.4 million; No. 7, Fox’s “Alien Resurrection,” $3.3 million; No. 8, Fox’s “Anastasia,” $3.1 million; No. 9, Universal’s “The Jackal,” $2.5 million; and No. 10, Warner Bros.’ “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” $1.8 million.

Also in limited release, Woody Allen’s latest comedy, “Deconstructing Harry,” took in $325,000 on only 10 screens in New York and Los Angeles. In its second week, “Good Will Hunting” grossed $152,200 on 10 screens. All figures are estimates. Final grosses are tallied today.

Box-office competition will get even stiffer in coming weeks, with “Titanic,” the latest James Bond adventure “Tomorrow Never Dies” and DreamWorks’ comedy “MouseHunt” all opening Friday. James Brooks’ “As Good as It Gets,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” and Kevin Costner’s “The Postman,” among others, open the following week.

This crop of year-end films, which make it under the wire for Oscar contention, were virtually shut out by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., which handed out its annual awards Saturday. Like the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review, the L.A. group gave its best picture award to “L.A. Confidential.” Curtis Hanson’s noirish film about corruption in the 1950s LAPD also won for best director, screenplay and cinematography.