The B- Cinemascore speaks to how horror movies poll among opening night audiences, whereby ‘not scary enough’ and ‘too scary’ both bring the grade down.
Well, this is a happy surprise. Paramount’s PARA PARA Smile topped the domestic box office this weekend with a robust $22 million. That part isn’t a surprise, but rather that it legged out after an $8.2 million Friday, notching a strong (especially for horror) 2.68x weekend multiplier. As noted yesterday, the B- Cinemascore was more about the skewed nature of how horror movies poll among opening night audiences. Simply put, audiences who think a horror movie is not scary enough and those who think it’s too frightening or disturbing tend to push the grade down. Horror is weird like that, as nobody downvotes a comedy for being too funny.
Anyway, this is another win for Paramount in what has been a miraculous comeback year, with Brian Collins and friends seeing the light concerning the glory of theatrical. This, ironically, after replacing Jim Gianopulos specifically because Viacom wanted to emphasize streaming. Smile joins Scream, Jackass Forever, The Lost City, Sonic the Hedgehog and Top Gun: Maverick.
