The good news continues for the new regime at Paramount continues as Scream 7 blows past all expectations at the domestic box office, where the Spyglass Media pic is on course to open to $60 million or more, a franchise-best and the year’s biggest launch to date. It even has shot at $65 million, which would be the best opening in months.

Friday’s haul of $28.8 million includes $7.8 million in Thursday previews, which began just as David Ellison’s Paramount-Skydance learned the path has been cleared for the company to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal that has left Hollywood rocked to its core after Netflix stepped away.

Despite a franchise-low critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, Scream 7 scored a franchise-best $7.8 million in previews, surpassing previous record-holder Scream VI ($5.7 million) and proving once again why many genres titles are generally review-proof.

Co-financed by Spyglass Media and Paramount, the film is playing in 3,540 theaters in North America. Overseas, it is rolling out in 52 markets, including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom, with seven additional markets to follow. (The series does best in English-speaking markets.)

Heading into the weekend, Paramount forecasted a $40 million launch for the the slasher pic, which would have still marked the best three-day launch of the year to date. Tracking was more bullish, with the National Research Group projecting $45 million. As of now, Scream VI, which launched to $44.4 million in March 2023, is the record-holder for the series’ top opener, not adjusted for inflation.

The big wild card was audience scores. As long as they aren’t as bad as the reviews, the pic shouldn’t be murdered by poor word of mouth, although studios generally like to see an audience score of 80 percent and above. As of Saturday morning, the Rotten Tomatoes audience score was a good-enough 78 percent.

Globally, Scream 7 is targeting now targeting a launch north of $80 million. While Paramount’s new studio heads Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein inherited the project, they, along with newly installed marketing head Josh Goldstine successfully carried it over the finish line in tandem with Spyglass.

The pic sees Neve Campbell return to the iconic series in the role of Sidney after sitting out Scream VI because of a salary dispute after appearing in every film up to that point.

Kevin Williamson, who wrote the script for the original Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 4, directs the seventh installment. The story follows Sidney as she returns to a small town with her daughter (Isabel May), who soon cross paths with a new Ghostface killer. The girl is named Tatum, the same name of Rose McGowan’s character in the 1996’s Scream who was murdered.

A trailer released in October focused on Ghostface targeting Sidney and Tatum, with Sidney teaching her daughter the rules of surviving the brutal killer. Another ad played during the Super Bowl, underscoring how important the franchise is to David Ellison and his new regime at Paramount. In addition to Campbell, original star Courteney Cox returns as reporter Gale Weathers.

Spyglass fully produced the movie, with Paramount co-financing half of the net $45 million budget.

Scream 7 has a secret weapon in its arsenal — it will be the first installment to play in Imax. It is also playing across all other premium formats.

While Campbell’s return marks a highly anticipated moment for fans, two stars of the revival films Scream (2022) and Scream VI will not be back. Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream 7 because of her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war. Jenna Ortega had already left the film voluntarily before the firing, though it was not made public until after. Christopher Landon, who was set to direct the horror sequel, also exited amid intense fan backlash after Barrera’s firing, despite not being the one to fire the actress.

Other franchise stars returning include David Arquette as Dewey Riley, completing the legacy trio alongside Sidney and Gale. Matthew Lillard, one of the original co-Ghostface killers, is coming back as Stu Macher, as well as Scott Foley, Scream 3‘s Ghostface Roman Bridger — Sidney’s half-brother. Siblings Chad and Mindy, played by Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown are also in Scream 7.

The other big victor of the weekend is Neon and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley doc, which looks to come in fourth place with a dazzling $7 million start to $8 million start.

More to come.

Feb. 25, 7:20 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.

This story was originally published February 27 at 8:59 a.m.