He-Man Doesn’t Stand a Chance: Wayans Bros Set to Crush the Weekend Box Office

Picking when to shove your big-budget film out into cinemas is a bit like betting the house on a dodgy horse—seems logical at the time, until a few other contenders show up and make you wish you had a time machine. Amazon/MGM clearly thought they were onto something by planting their Masters of the Universe reboot firmly on a 5 June 2027 release slot. He-Man, Skeletor, outsized swords, all the usual crowd-pleasers. But then the competition got a hell of a lot more serious, and frankly, if you like box office drama, you couldn’t ask for a stranger line-up.

Scary Movie: The Unexpected Heavyweight

Amazon/MGM likely had the usual worries—superhero fatigue, nostalgia overdoses—but I doubt anyone saw the Wayans Brothers making a triumphant return to the Scary Movie series as the real threat. Paramount started dropping trailers a couple of months back and, weirdly, people have actually found them funny. Now that doesn’t happen every day. So this one’s been quietly bubbling away, and it’s built up enough hype that by opening weekend it’s expected to take in about $45 million.

The Horror Phenomenon Nobody Saw Coming

Here’s where things get unpredictable. Not one, but two horror films have turned the box office schedule upside down: Backrooms and Obsession. If you haven’t been following, Backrooms launched last weekend and somehow made over $80 million straight out of the gate. Sure, films like that tend to drop fast, but with projections of another $30 million this weekend, it’s not slowing enough for He-Man to catch up.

And then there’s Obsession. It started out quietly but has been building a solid following every week—people just keep turning up. Forecasts put its weekend take around $20 million, with a fair chance it could push to $25 million. If that happens, it could tip He-Man’s latest outing down another place in the queue.

He-Man’s Multicoloured Headache

Let’s be honest—Amazon/MGM were obviously banking on Masters of the Universe to make a bit of noise. If all He-Man had to do was knock it out with Scary Movie for the top spot, a $40 million+ debut wouldn’t have been out of the question. But given the horror crowd’s appetite, He-Man’s team are now looking at a much less heroic $25 million opening—if they’re lucky. Best result would see them scraping into third on the charts, but don’t rule out fourth if Obsession keeps pulling new punters. To put it kindly: not what you’d call a power move.

Star Wars: The Unexpected Dud

The wildest part of this weekend? That dubious distinction goes to The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is well on track to become the lowest-earning Star Wars movie in US box office history. After a soft start, it should bring in a measly $15 million and settle quietly into fifth place. Who had that on their bingo card?

This Week’s Predicted Box Office Rankings

• Scary Movie: $45 million
• Backrooms: $30 million
• Masters of the Universe: $25 million
• Obsession: $20 million
• The Mandalorian and Grogu: $15 million

'If Scary Movie were the only competition for Masters of the Universe, that would be one thing… But what they didn’t count on was the fact that two horror movie breakouts, Backrooms and Obsession, would go on to become absolute phenomena that will suck the air out of the box office this weekend.'