(Bloomberg) -- The horror reboot “Scream” unseated “Spider-Man: No Way Home” atop the U.S. and Canadian box office, knocking off the film that’s become the highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era, with more than $1.6 billion in ticket sales globally in the month since its release.

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• “Scream,” a new picture in a franchise that began in 1996, brought in an estimated $34 million in North American ticket sales over the long Martin Luther King Day Jr. holiday weekend, according to Comscore Inc. That narrowly beat Boxoffice Pro’s $33.7 million forecast for the film, which was released by ViacomCBS Inc.’s Paramount Pictures division. Sony Group’s “No Way Home,” meanwhile, generated $25 million.

Key Insights

• Don’t be surprised if “Scream” or “No Way Home” top the box office in the U.S. and Canada in the final weekends of the month. Most remaining new films opening in theaters before February will get limited releases, according to Box Office Mojo.

• “Scream” brings back original stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette in a revival directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. It’s about a new killer who targets teenagers in the town of Woodsboro and also stars Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner and Mason Gooding. About three-quarters of critics recommended the film, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
• Hollywood is aiming to make 2022 a comeback year, with big movies making their debuts exclusively in cinemas after studios dabbled last year with simultaneous releases in theaters and on streaming services. But with surging Covid cases and a light first-quarter slate, it’s unlikely U.S. and Canadian theaters will approach the $11.4 billion in box-office receipts generated in 2019. Bloomberg Intelligence now forecasts about $8 billion in receipts in the two countries this year, which would be almost double that of 2021.
• Some of the films generating the most buzz today were made for streaming services, including Netflix Inc.’s “Don’t Look Up.” The climate-change satire is already among the service’s most popular films.

Read more: Film studios make risky bet on theaters as omicron rages

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• See the schedule for upcoming releases.

(Updates with four-day totals beginning in second paragraph.)

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