‘Scream 2’ Debuts With Record Earnings

“Scream 2” didn’t just kill its competitors. It buried them.

The lampoonish teen slasher movie earned $39.2 million in the biggest opening ever for a December weekend, according to estimates released Sunday.

The sequel to Wes Craven’s horror blockbuster “Scream” nearly doubled the $20.1 million December record set last year by “Beavis and Butt-head Do America.”

The film features TV stars Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, who both appeared in the original, along with Jada Pinkett and Tori Spelling.

“The American public continues to find new and different stars that they’ve become attached to,” said David Davis, a movie industry analyst for Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin.

After “Scream 2,” family comedies held the next three box-office slots.

Robin Williams’ “Flubber” was second with $6.9 million. “For Richer or Poorer,” starring Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley, earned $6 million for the No. 3 spot and was followed by “Home Alone 3” with $5.1 million.

“Amistad” and Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry” did well in limited release.

“Amistad,” Steven Spielberg’s slave-ship drama, did well on just 322 screens, placing fifth with $4.6 million, according to estimates from Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

“It’s slightly higher than we were expecting. We are just very pleased with it,” said Dreamworks SKG executive Jim Tharp.

Although it failed to make the top 10, Woody Allen’s new comedy had the best per-screen average. Its debut take of $325,000 on 10 screens worked out to $32,500 per screen.

“Alien Resurrection” dropped from No. 2 to No. 7 with $3.3 million.