Fathom/Glitch's "The Amazing Digital Circus: The Final Act" was the top-grossing film on Thursday night, narrowly beating Paramount/Miramax's "Scary Movie," which took in $7.8 million from 2,221 theaters in previews.
While Scary Movie, which grossed $7.7 million in previews, will battle A24/Chernin's Behind the Scenes for the top spot this weekend, and The Circus is hoping for a stronger opening weekend, Fathom joined A24 in bringing younger audiences to theaters with new projects: fans of the cult animated miniseries Glitch came to see its ninth and final episode two weeks before its YouTube release.
The series "The Amazing Digital Circus" follows a group of people trapped in a colorful virtual circus run by a cheerful but corrupt program named Kane. The series has gained worldwide popularity thanks to its blend of dark humor, psychological drama, and existential horror. "The Last Act" is projected to gross approximately $12 million by Sunday.
Scary Movie could have done much better, as pre-release projections for its opening weekend were over $50 million. Its $7.7 million opening weekend gross is only slightly behind the $7.8 million grossed by the final installment of one of the horror franchises it parodies, Scream 7, which ultimately grossed $63.6 million.
Whether Scary Movie achieves such high results will depend on word of mouth impacting ticket sales at the box office. Like its predecessors during the film's heyday in the 2000s, critics gave it a Rotten Tomatoes score of 29%. After Thursday's screenings, audience reviews were significantly more positive, but not overwhelmingly so: 69% positive reviews.
Also opening this weekend is Amazon MGM's Masters of the Universe, which grossed $4.4 million. Directed by Travis Knight, the adaptation of the 1980s fantasy franchise looks set to be a major flop, with projected opening weekend grosses of around $35 million against a production budget of at least $170 million.
The film "Masters" was saved by its positive reception: on Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 69% positive review from critics and an 88% positive rating from audiences. But it's hard to say whether this will be enough to expand the film's audience beyond its core demographic—Gen X men and families where fathers from this demographic bring their teenage sons—especially given the presence of films like "Behind the Scenes" and "Digital Circus," which are currently popular with Gen Z and Gen A audiences.
The article "'The Amazing Digital Circus' Leads Thursday Box Office With $7.8 Million" first appeared on TheWrap.