That compares to $3.5 million in previews for last year’s Scream, and the $5.5 million in previews for last weekend’s Creed III.

Scream VI — which earned strong exits — expands into a total of 3,675 cinemas today and should post a series-best domestic debut of at least $35 million over Oscar weekend for Paramount.

The last Scream film, released in January 2022, opened to 30 million, an impressive showing for the pandemic era. The biggest North American start of the franchise belongs to 2000’s Scream 3 ($34.7 million), not adjusted for inflation.

Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox star alongside franchise newbies Dermot Mulroney, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra and Samara Weaving.

Sony’s sci-fi dinosaur offering 65 , starring Adam Driver, also opens this weekend. Unlike Scream VI, the elevated genre pic has been mostly panned by critics (Sony waited until the 11th hour to screen 65 for reviewers, which is never a great sign).

Directed by A Quiet Place writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, 65 stars Adam Driver as astronaut who crash-lands on a mysterious planet, only to realize that he has become marooned on Earth 65 million years ago. With just a single opportunity for salvation, Mills and the sole other survivor must traverse an uncharted landscape infested with dinosaurs and other dangerous prehistoric beasts in a struggle for survival.

But 65 is only tracking to open in the $7 million to $9 million range and will have to compete with Scream VI for younger adults. The Sony pic cost a reported $45 million to make, and was co-financed by Bron Studios and TSG. It earned $1.2 million in previews.

Champions, like 65, should start in the mid-teens, meaning that Scream VI’s biggest competition will come from MGM’s holdover Creed III, which debuted last weekend to a far better-than-expected $58.4 million domestically.