What happened to Scream 4 last weekend? The highly anticipated sequel in the horror franchise was beaten at the box office by a neurotic bird. That’s right, Rio the film about a talking bird came in at number one earning the biggest box office opening of 2011 with $40 million. That’s slightly higher than Rango, which earned $38 million when it opened in March.
So where does Scream 4 come in? The film debuted at a distant number two with a mere $19 million. All the nostalgia in the world just wasn’t enough to catch moviegoer’s attention. Here are a few reasons why we think the film failed.
Last week, we posted an article about the original Scream and why everyone fell in love with it. The movie was loved by audiences because it was self-aware but still managed to scare your pants off. It was a satire that had genuine suspense and a good story, which are two things Scream 4 lacked.
The original three characters of Sidney, Gale, and Dewey were supposedly brought back to usher in a new breed of protagonists for a new trilogy. If that was their true motivation, they failed miserably. All of the new characters are cardboard cut outs of people we’ve seen in the past three movies, but they’re not as interesting. Why would you care about the deaths of people you’re not invested in? Having the original three amigos in the movie was not enough to keep our attention.
Where was the horror? There was practically no suspense in this movie. Old school jump-scares weren’t even used. Instead of focusing on the terror, the story focused more on delivering a social commentary about the internet and celebrity. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a great message but there’s a time and a place for that. There are only so many conversations about Twitter, web-casts, and texts a person can take.
Overall, we think Scream 4 failed because it’s a shadow of its former self. It didn’t deliver any of the stuff that the franchise is known for. Was it great to see Sidney and Ghostface go toe-to-toe again? Yes! But it would have been even better if the entire cast was equally entertaining to watch.
