NEW YORK (AP) — “Scream” is still making a killing.
Thirty years after the original slasher movie opened in theaters, “Scream 7” debuted with a franchise-best $64.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The bigger-than-expected opening is a win for Paramount, which on Friday announced its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
In a so-far sluggish 2026 at the box office, “Scream 7” managed the best debut of the year, easily displacing last weekend’s champ, the Stephen Curry-produced animated film “GOAT,” from Sony Pictures.
“Scream 7,” which cost $45 million to make, got a boost from the return of Neve Campbell, as Sidney Prescott. The actor sat out 2023’s “Scream VI,” but was drawn back for the seventh film by a reported $7 million payday. Original cast members Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Matthew Lillard also co-star.
“Scream VI” had set a new high (not accounting for inflation) for the franchise with a $44.4 million launch. That film starred Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, along with series regulars. But in 2023, Barrera was dropped from the seventh film by the film’s production company, Spyglass Media Group, after making comments on the Israel-Hamas war that some deemed antisemitic. Ortega subsequently dropped out of the film.
Kevin Williamson, who wrote the 1996 original and many of the following chapters, stepped into direct, retooling the film around Campbell and company. In the film, Sidney and her 17-year-old daughter are haunted by Ghostface in the suburban community of Pine Grove.
Reviews were poor (34% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores (a “B-” CinemaScore) also weren’t great.
But the overperformance of “Scream 7," which added $33.1 million overseas, gave Paramount more to celebrate on a potentially historic weekend for the studio. On Friday, its parent company, Paramount Skydance, announced its intention to merge with Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix dropped out of negotiations. The deal, which forms a Hollywood colossus and remakes the media landscape, awaits regulatory approval.
For Josh Goldstine, president of global marketing and distribution at Paramount, the launch of “Scream 7” signaled a new beginning for Paramount, which last year completed an $8 billion merger with David Ellison's Skydance. Following that merger, Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, co-chairs, took the reigns of Paramount Pictures.
“This is the first time that the new Paramount team has gotten their arms around a movie, not necessarily from the production side but from the marketing and distribution side,” said Goldstine. “It's really an exciting time for the new Paramount.”
Goldstine declined to address the merger with Warner Bros. But he attributed the success of “Scream 7” — the rare franchise to keep growing so many films in — to the studio's commitment to exhibition. In opposing Netflix's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Ellison trumpeted the studio's dedication to theatrical, pledging a minimum 45-day theatrical window for films.
“It's really about the passion for the theatrical marketplace that exists at Paramount right now and the desire that we wanted to show the culture and the world why we love, and what we can do, with theatrical movies,” Goldstine said of the “Scream 7” opening.
“Scream 7” benefited significantly from IMAX screens and premium format screens, something no previous “Scream” movie had on opening. Shaun Barber, head of domestic distribution for Paramount, noted that 40% of the film's business over the weekend was on premium format screens.
“The film’s success speaks to the strength of the brand and Ghostface’s staying power as an iconic villain,” said Barber. “When you put that on the biggest screens in the country, audiences are even more excited to watch it together."
After claiming the top spot in its second weekend, “GOAT” dropped to second place with $12 million in its third weekend. It's so far accumulated $74 million domestically. “Wuthering Heights,” Emerald Fennell's Emily Brontë adaptation, fell to third place with $7 million in its third weekend. Its three-week haul stands at $72.3 million.
The only new release to make a dent in theaters was the concert film “Twenty One Pilots: More Than We Ever Imagined.” Distributed by Trafalgar Releasing, it opened with $3.7 million in 836 theaters. Another concert film also continues to perform well: “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.” The Baz Luhrmann “Elvis” addendum added 1,615 theaters after a strong debut last week. The Neon release collected $3.5 million, pushing its two-week gross to $7.8 million.
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “Scream 7,” $64.1 million.
2. “GOAT,” $12 million.
3. “Wuthering Heights,” $7 million.
4. “Twenty One Pilots: More Than We Ever Imagined,” $3.7 million.
5. “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” $3.5 million.
6. “Crime 101,” $3.4 million.
7. “I Can Only Imagine 2,” $3.1 million.
8. “Send Help,” $2.8 million.
9. “How to Make a Killing,” $1.6 million.
10. “Zootopia 2,” $1.4 million.
Neve Campbell, left, a cast member in "Scream 7," is greeted by the film's director/co-writer Kevin Williamson at the premiere of the film on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal to end the Iran war via Pakistani mediators on Sunday, but U.S. President Donald Trump quickly rejected it in a social media post as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” — the latest setback to efforts to resolve the standoff in the Persian Gulf that has throttled shipping and sent energy prices soaring.
Iranian state media reported that Tehran rejected the U.S. proposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on “war reparations by the U.S., full Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions, and the release of seized Iranian assets.”
Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the strait and roll back Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump's rejection of the Iranian response included no details. In an earlier post, he accused Tehran of “playing games” with the United States for nearly 50 years, adding: "They will be laughing no longer!"
Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC earlier.
Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.
The fragile ceasefire was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drones entering their airspace. The UAE said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry called the ship attack a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region." The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center gave no details about the ship's owner or origin.
Kuwait Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said forces responded to drones but did not say where they came from.
Iran and armed allied groups such as the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group have used drones to carry out hundreds of strikes since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28.
Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran does not accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. Iran has largely blocked the strategic waterway that's key to the global flow of oil, natural gas and fertilizer since the war began, rattling world markets.
The U.S. military in turn has blockaded Iranian ports since April 13, saying it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four. On Friday, it struck two Iranian oil tankers it said were trying to breach the blockade. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy says any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels would be met with a “heavy assault” on U.S. bases in the region and enemy ships.
Another sticking point in negotiations is Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The U.N. nuclear agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons grade.
In an interview posted late Saturday, an Iranian military spokesperson said forces were on “full readiness” to protect sites where uranium is stored.
“We considered it possible that they might intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heli-borne operations,” Brig. Gen. Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an excerpt of an interview with CBS airing Sunday said the war isn't over because the enriched uranium needs to be taken out of Iran. “Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’ and I think it can be done physically,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.
The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex, the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general told The Associated Press last month. The facility was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.
Iran's deputy foreign minister warned against a planned French-British effort that aims to support maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz after hostilities are over.
“The presence of French and British vessels, or those of any other country, for any possible cooperation with illegal U.S. actions in the Strait of Hormuz that violate international law will be met with a decisive and immediate response from the armed forces,” Kazem Gharibabadi said on social media.
French President Emmanuel Macron responded by saying it won't be a military deployment but an international mission to secure shipping once conditions allow.
Several attacks against ships in the Persian Gulf have occurred over the past week, and a U.S. effort to “guide” ships through the strait was quickly paused.
South Korea announced initial findings from an investigation that said two unidentified objects struck the South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU about one minute apart while it was anchored in the strait last week, causing an explosion and fire. Officials have yet to determine who was responsible.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
Women walk in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A Revolutionary Guard soldier stands at the counter of a fast food restaurant in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The front page of the Sunday May 10, 2026, edition of Iranian newspaper, Jamejam, is seen with a cartoon satirizing the U.S. President Donald Trump that asks: "Open the the Strait of Hormuz" on a news stand in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Vehicles drive past banners showing portraits of the school children who were killed during a strike on a school in southern town of Minab on Feb. 28, at Tajrish square in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The South Korean-operated vessel HMM NAMU is docked after being damaged from a fire following an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz, at a port in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Kim Sang-hun/Yonhap via AP)
Container ships sit at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, May 2, 2026.(Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
