B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
After a month at No. 1, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" has finally been overtaken at the box office. Paramount Pictures' "Scream" reboot debuted with US$30.6 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Scream," a self-described "requel" that is both the fifth film in the franchise and a reboot introducing a new, younger cast, led all releases over the weekend. Paramount forecasts that it will total $35 million including Monday's grosses. "Scream," which cost about $24 million to make, added another $18 million in 50 international markets.
That made for a solid revival for the self-aware slasher franchise. Rights to the "Scream" films, once a reliable cash cow for Harvey and Bob Weinstein's Miramax Films, were acquired by Spyglass Media Group, which produced the new film with Paramount. This "Scream," helmed by Matt Bettinello-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, was the first not directed by Wes Craven, who died in 2015. It features original "Scream" cast members Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette alongside new additions Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and Jack Quaid.
Most notably, "Scream" is the first box-office success in a year that Hollywood hopes will see a return to weekly stability at movie theatres. January is typically a quiet period at the box office, but the surge of the Omicron variant in COVID-19 has further upended release plans of some winter movies.
"All of our traditional measures were indicating a solid opening, but as I kept telling people: We're still in this thing and it's very difficult to determine what will actually happen," said Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Paramount. "Now we're open, people have seen the movie and we're off and running. Hopefully this becomes another building block toward building the business back and getting it back to some semblance of normalcy."
Meanwhile, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" slipped to second place but continued to rise in the record books.
"No Way Home" grossed $20.8 million in its fifth weekend of release. Sony Pictures predicts that with another $5.2 million on Monday, "No Way Home" will reach a domestic cumulative total of $703.9 million, edging "Black Panther" and moving into fourth place all-time. That puts it behind only "Avatar" ($760 million), "Avengers: Endgame" ($858 million) and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($936 million). Globally, "No Way Home" has grossed $1.6 billion.
Universal Pictures' "Sing 2" landed in third place in its fourth weekend with $8.3 million over the three-day U.S. weekend. The animated sequel has grossed $122.1 million domestically and $96.3 million internationally.
While the debut of "Scream" could be celebrated by Paramount, which postponed most of its top 2021 releases to 2022 (movies including "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Mission Impossible 7"), its performance also typified current box-office realities. Superhero movies and genre films that appeal to younger audiences have bounced back to near pre-pandemic levels, while films skewing older haven't.
"Scream," which received largely favorable reviews (81 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a B+ CinemaScore from audiences, fared better than the last installment, 2011's "Scream 4." That film launched with $19.3 million. The audience for the new "Scream" was 42 per cent under the age of 25, Sony said. But any success needs to pull from various demographics, and "Scream" also appealed to fans of the early franchise entries. Some 23 per cent of ticket buyers were over 35.
The only other new widely released movie over the weekend was "Belle," Mamoru Hosoda's critically acclaimed anime riff on "Beauty and the Beast." It debuted with $1.6 million in 1,326 theatres.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore.
1. "Scream," $30.6 million.
2. "Spider-Man: No Way Home," $20.8 million.
3. "Sing 2," $8.3 million.
4. "The 355," $2.3 million.
5. "The King's Man," $2.3 million.
6. "Belle," $1.6 million.
7. "American Underdog," $1.6 million.
8. "West Side Story," $948,000.
9. "Licorice Pizza," $880,000.
10. "The Matrix Resurrections," $815,000.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.