Even on its sixth installment, the Scream franchise still yelled loud and clear – it’s as popular as ever. Showing no signs of franchise fatigue, Scream VI topped the box office and even surpassed predictions.

The sixthquel, which sees a new Ghostface killer stalking survivors of the Woodsboro legacy attacks in New York, made a killing at the North American box office with a whopping $44.5 million. Those are record best opening figures for the slasher series which was launched with the first movie in 1996.

Scream VI again stars Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Courteney Cox, Hayden Panettiere, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding. But this latest Scream, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, is the first one minus Neve Campbell because she reportedly thought the offer for her to reprise her Sidney Prescott role was “unacceptable.”

This comeback of the Ghostface killer also stars Dermot Mulroney, Tony Revolori and Samara Weaving.

Creed III was knocked down to second place but with a still robust $27.1 million. Those are solid numbers for the threequel which marked the feature directing debut of Michael B. Jordan, who also stars, along with Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Phylicia Rashad, Wood Harris and Mila Davis-Kent.

Adam Driver’s action-adventure-drama, 65, bowed with a strong $12.3 million and landed third. Helmed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, 65 chronicles how an astronaut crash lands on a mysterious planet that turns out to be Earth during its Cretaceous period and battles dinosaurs.

Ariana Greenblatt portrays the girl that Adam’s astronaut character, Mills, finds as his fellow crash survivor.

Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which took in $7 million, settled for fourth place.

The Elizabeth Banks-directed Cocaine Bear collected $6.2 million to stay in the magic five. Loosely based on a true story, the comedy thriller imagines a bear who ingests millions of dollars of cocaine and goes on a murderous rampage. Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ray Liotta, Margo Martindale, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Matthew Rhys top bill this surprise hit.

Comprising the rest of the top ten were, in order: the faith-based Jesus Revolution, $5.17 million; Champions, Bobby Farrelly’s solo directing bow, a sports comedy starring Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Cheech Marin and Ernie Hudson, $5.15 million; James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, $2.7 million; Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, $1.65 million; and Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, $1.28 million.

Scream VI was also heard around the world, picking up $22.6 million in more than 50 territories. Ghostface’s comeback was popular in Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, France, the Netherlands and Italy. With international and domestic ticket sales combined, Scream VI’s worldwide tally was a resounding $67.1 million.

But overall, the international leader was Creed III, which amassed $24 million in 70-plus markets.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania collected $9.8 million for an overseas cume of $249.6 million and a global total of $447.6 million. China contributed $39 million to Ant-Man 3’s offshore revenues, followed by Mexico, the United Kingdom, Korea and France.

Still, box office analysts touted Quantumania’s steep drop compared to the first two movies.