Raphael Stevens

The latest installment in the “Scream” franchise has a chance to topple the dominance of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” at the domestic weekend box office.
The film is projected to tally between $35 million and $40 million in ticket sales during its opening weekend, which includes the extended holiday on Monday.
“Scream” does have some challenges. It’s facing not only a potentially smaller moviegoing audience due to the pandemic, but it’s been more than a decade since the franchise’s last theatrical release.

Still from “Scream.”
Paramount Pictures

The latest installment in the “Scream” franchise opens this weekend to a movie theater industry threatened by a rapid rise in coronavirus cases fueled by the more transmissible omicron variant.
December’s release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was able to defy Covid concerns to become the highest grossing movie during the pandemic, making more than $1 billion and counting. But the debut of “Scream” presents a chance to break Spider-Man’s grip on the top spot at the weekend box office, which it’s held for four weeks.

“Scream” does have some challenges. It’s facing not only a potentially smaller moviegoing audience, but it’s been more than a decade since the franchise’s last theatrical release.
“Consumers are being increasingly selective of what they believe justifies that theatrical visit,” said Rich Greenfield, general partner at LightShed Ventures.
The film is the fifth installment since the original opened in theaters 26 years ago. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette reprise their roles in the franchise, and bring along newcomers Melissa Barrera (“In The Heights”), Jenna Ortega (“You”) and Jack Quaid (“The Boys”). Cox described the movie as a “brand new launch” of the slasher franchise in an interview on “The Drew Barrymore Show” in May.
The film is projected to tally between $25 million and $30 million in ticket sales during its opening weekend, according to Comscore. The figure includes the holiday on Monday. Along with its legacy factor, the film has the advantage of being in a genre that appeals to younger audiences, who are more willing to head to a movie theater in the midst of the pandemic.
During the health crisis, horror films like “Candyman,” “A Quiet Place: Part II,” and “Halloween: Kills,” all grossed more than $20 million in their opening weekends, according to Comscore.

“The horror genre was one of the saviors of the movie theater during the pandemic,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
A survey from Gallup found that Americans between 18 and 29 years old were seeing movies in theaters at more than twice the rate of other demographics. This age group has always had more active moviegoers, but the gap has widened during the pandemic.
“You’ve got more mature audiences still staying home to a greater degree and you have a genre that has that youth appeal,” said Dergarabedian. “Then you have younger viewers who want to go out to the movie theater. And the pandemic has really heightened that disparity.”

Younger audiences continue to dominate horror movie attendance, making it a safe bet for studios to release in theaters during the pandemic. “Halloween Kills,” a sequel to Blumhouse Productions’ Halloween revamp, opened in October 2021 to almost $50 million. Thirty-five percent of its audience was made up of 18- to 24-year-olds, making it the largest demographic group for the film, according to data from Comscore/Screen Engine API.
“There are certain types of movies targeting different age groups and demographics that certainly are performing,” said LightShed Ventures’ Greenfield. “So, if you’re going after the younger teenager, young adult demographic, like ‘Spider-Man’ or like ‘Scream’ does this weekend, you’re going to do relatively well.”
Studios also benefit from making horror movies with a lower budget. These films usually come with smaller price tags and don’t have to earn as much to turn a profit at the box office. Last year, “Candyman” had an estimated production budget of $25 million and took home more than $27 million in sales during its first weekend. According to Variety, “Scream” had an estimated product budget of $24 million.
“You don’t have to break the bank to make a convincing and scary horror movie,” said Dergarabedian. “The accountant’s dream, the bean counter’s dream is the horror movie.”
Paramount Pictures’ release of “Scream” this weekend may be able to overcome audience hesitation from the omicron variant. However, the original Scream feature did not have the same built-in audience on its opening weekend.

An Opening Bust

The Scream horror franchise has spanned more than two decades and includes five theatrical releases and one television series on MTV.
The original “Scream” movie was directed by horror-pioneer Wes Craven and was released in 1996 to a disappointing opening weekend. It debuted just before Christmas and rang up about $6 million at the domestic box office. It was not the opening studio executives were expecting and they almost declared the film a failure.
“I do remember going, ‘Oh, that’s a bummer, this isn’t going to work. It’s so good,'” said Cox, in an interview with The Ringer last month.
However, it proved to have legs. By word of mouth, moviegoers learned the film offered a new style of horror. Those watching the film who had a good awareness of previous slasher tropes, were given a fresh take on the genre.

Over the next few weeks, “Scream” made more than $100 million at the domestic box office — ultimately taking in 16 times its opening gross and receiving critical praise.
“It’s rare that you see a 16 times multiple,” said Dergarabedian. “That’s a direct reflection of long term playability, great buzz and cultural impact.”
After that moment, the franchise expanded and a sequel was released less than a year later. However, the momentum wouldn’t last forever.
When “Scream 4” was released in April 2011, moviegoers didn’t show up at the same rate. The film opened at $18.6 million at the domestic box office, the franchise’s second-lowest opening weekend, after the original’s lackluster release. Dergarabedian attributed its poor performance to the decade that had lapsed between the third and fourth installment.

This time around reboots are a growing trend. With the success of “Halloween,” which came out 40 years after its original installment, “Scream” hopes to draw a similar audience.
“For younger viewers, something like ‘Scream,’ to see that in the theater is a blast, and what a great way to escape your everyday troubles and then to have the crap scared out of you in a movie theater with other people,” Dergarabedian said.
–CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.

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Consumer spending trends look “relatively positive” so far this year, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach told CNBC on Thursday.
The comments come as some retailers say the Covid omicron variant is having an impact on business operations.

Consumer spending trends look “relatively positive” so far this year, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach told CNBC on Thursday, following strong holiday numbers.
Miebach’s comments in an interview on “Power Lunch” come as the Covid omicron variant remains widespread across the world, including in the U.S. Some retailers have warned of an impact to business operations, saying it’s hurting sales and causing staffing challenges in stores and distribution centers alike.

“We’re coming with a momentum of the holiday season into the new year and trends continue to look relatively positive,” Miebach said, noting that the holiday spending jumped 8.5% compared with last year.
Mastercard expects spending this year will be aided by built-up savings accumulated during the Covid pandemic, Miebach said.
Even if Covid-19 cases surge and consumers don’t feel comfortable going into a store, they will just shift spending to online channels, he explained.
“Consumers have learned. They have adapted, and they show all signs of wanting to do more online in digital banking and online shopping and so forth,” said Miebach, who has led the payment processing giant since January 2021.
Mastercard shares closed up less than 1% Thursday, a down day for Wall Street overall with all three major U.S. equity indexes in the red. Shares of Mastercard are off to a solid start in 2022, up 2.9% year to date. The stock is up about 7% over the past 12 months, compared with a more than 22% gain for the S&P 500.

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President Joe Biden said the White House next week will announce how it is providing highly-quality masks to Americans for free.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reintroduced legislation on Wednesday to distribute free N95 masks to every person in the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon update its masking guidance to inform Americans about the different levels of protection different masks provide.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said any mask is better than no mask.

US President Joe Biden holds up a KN95 mask as he delivers an update on his Administrations whole-of-government COVID-19 surge response at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 13, 2022.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Thursday said the U.S. will give high-quality masks to Americans for free, as new infections from the Covid-19 omicron variant soar across the country.
Biden said the U.S. has more than tripled the national stockpile of highly protective N95 masks to make sure they are widely available to the general public. He said masks are a crucial tool to help control the spread of omicron.

“I know that for some Americans, the mask is not always affordable or convenient to get,” Biden said in addressing the nation from the White House. “Next week we’ll announce how we’re making high-quality masks available to the American people for free.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reintroduced legislation on Wednesday to distribute free N95 masks to every person in the U.S. for free. Everybody would receive a package with three highly protective masks. Sanders’ legislation has 50 Democratic co-sponsors in the House and Senate.

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“As we face the rapidly spreading omicron variant, we should remember that not all face masks are created equal,” Sanders said in a statement. “Congress must demand the mass production and distribution of N95 masks, one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the Covid virus.”
Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Wednesday said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would soon update its masking guidance to inform Americans about the different levels of protection different masks provide. However, Walensky said the CDC recommends that any mask is better than no mask.
“We do encourage all Americans to wear a well-fitting mask to protect themselves and prevent the spread of Covid-19, and that recommendation is not going to change,” the CDC director said during a White House Covid update.

The CDC recommends that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in indoors public spaces in areas with substantial or high virus transmission. Right now, virtually every county in the U.S. has high transmission of the virus, according to the agency. Omicron currently represents 98% of all sequenced Covid cases in the U.S., according to the CDC.
Researchers in Australia found that fabric masks are least 50% effective at filtering virus particles, while N95 and surgical masks are about 99% effective. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Pathogens in September 2020.

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The federal government will deploy six teams of military medical personnel to hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan and New Mexico.
More than 152,000 people in the U.S. were hospitalized with Covid as of Wednesday, up 18% over the last week, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
An average of more than 1,000 hospitals nationwide are currently reporting daily critical staffing shortages, according to HHS data.

A soldier transports a patient at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on December 30, 2021.
Joseph Prezioso | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the deployment of six teams of military medical personnel to overwhelmed hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan and New Mexico.
The deployments, which total 120 personnel, come as hospitals grapple with staffing shortages as nurses and other medical personnel call out sick from omicron amid a surge of patients infected with the highly contagious Covid variant.

Biden also said the administration plans to buy an additional 500 million Covid tests, on top of the 500 million it is already procuring, to distribute for free across America.
The U.S. has deployed more than 800 military and emergency personnel since Thanksgiving, Biden said. More than 14,000 National Guard members have also been activated in 49 states to assist with the response to Covid, according to the president.
Biden said the U.S. has also more than tripled the national stockpile of high-quality N95 masks.
“I’ve made sure that our doctors and nurses and first responders have the masks that they need,” he said. “Never again are we’re going to have our nurses using homemade masks and garbage bags over their clothing for hospitals because they don’t have the gowns.”
Biden said his administration would also make highly protective masks available for free to Americans who cannot afford them.

“I know that for some Americans, the mask is not always affordable or convenient to get,” Biden said. “So next week we’ll announce how we’re making high-quality masks available to the American people.”
Covid-19 hospitalizations are higher than last winter’s peak, before the widespread distribution of vaccines. More than 152,000 people in the U.S. were hospitalized with Covid as of Wednesday, up 18% over the last week, according to data tracked by the Department of Health and Human Services.
“As long as we have tens of millions of people who will not get vaccinated, we’re going to have full hospitals and needless deaths,” Biden said. “So the single most important thing to determine your outcome in this pandemic is getting vaccinated.”
The U.S. reported almost 900,000 new infections on Wednesday, bringing the seven-day average to more than 786,000 new cases per day — a pandemic record and a 37% increase over the previous week, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
An average of more than 1,000 hospitals nationwide are currently reporting critical staffing shortages, according to HHS data. However, it’s likely an undercount because many hospitals were not reporting their status as of Wednesday.
Dr. Gillian Schmitz, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said the strain on front-line workers is worse now than at any other point in the pandemic.
“Many places across the country are getting to the point where even their backup staff are getting sick,” Schmitz told CNBC on Wednesday. “Pretty much the whole country right now is feeling this surge of cases that is impacting staffing.”

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Biden announced his plan to deploy 1,000 military medical personnel to support hospitals in December as omicron was rapidly overtaking the delta variant. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is also providing additional hospital beds and sending ambulances and EMS teams to help transport patients.
“It’s not enough,” Schmitz told CNBC on Wednesday. “I know everyone is trying to support as best we can, but there are limited resources even within our national structure.”
Epidemiologists have warned that the sheer magnitude of omicron infections still threatens to overwhelm hospitals with patients, even if the variant is generally less severe than delta.
Infectious disease experts, in a study this week, found that omicron patients at Kaiser Permanente Southern California were 74% less likely to need intensive care and 91% less likely to die from the virus compared with people who caught the delta variant. None of the omicron patients required mechanical ventilation, according to the study.
The overall risk of hospitalizations was also 52% lower for omicron patients compared with people who had delta, according to the study. Hospital stays for omicron patients were also about three days shorter than than their delta counterparts.
Kaiser Permanente Southern California provides care to more than 4.7 million people. The study, which has not been peer-reviewed yet, analyzed more than 52,000 omicron cases and nearly 17,000 delta cases.
Doctors and nurses have warned about staffing shortages for months. The American Nurses Association in September called on the Biden administration to declare the nursing shortage a national crisis.
“The nation’s health care delivery systems are overwhelmed, and nurses are tired and frustrated as this persistent pandemic rages on with no end in sight,” ANA President Ernest Grant said at the time. “Nurses alone cannot solve this longstanding issue and it is not our burden to carry,” Grant said.
Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock told lawmakers on Tuesday the U.S. must ensure hospitals and other essential services don’t break down as people call out sick.
“It’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is most people are going to get Covid,” Woodcock testified before the Senate health committee on Tuesday. “What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function, transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens.”
 — CNBC’s Christina Wilkie contributed to this article.

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Absences contributed to tens of thousands of flight U.S. cancellations since Christmas Eve.
CEO Ed Bastian said Delta’s operation has since stabilized.
The country’s largest flight attendants union criticized Delta’s new sick leave policy.

A Delta Air Lines employee works on the departures level at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on August 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said about 8,000 of its 75,000 employees tested positive for Covid-19 over the last four weeks, absences that marred the company’s financial results during a busy holiday travel season.
Delta reported a loss for the quarter and forecast another for the first three months of the year because of the fast-spreading omicron variant, but predicted travel would begin to rebound again in late February.

A series of winter storms and airline crews sidelined by omicron infections contributed to more than 20,000 U.S. flight cancellations industrywide between Christmas Eve and the first week of January. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby on Monday said 3,000 of its close to 70,000 U.S. employees were positive for Covid.
Flight cancellations have eased significantly in the past few days. Delta said that its operation has since stabilized and that 1% of its flights were canceled over the past week because of omicron.
The employees who tested positive had “no significant health issues,” Bastian said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” after releasing quarterly results.
Delta late last year updated its sick leave policy for employees who test positive for Covid-19, providing them five days of pay, outside of sick banks, and an additional two days if they test positive on the fifth day. Previously staff had 10 days of paid leave for Covid infections aside from regular sick days. That came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines for Covid quarantining, halving its recommendation to five days.
Delta and other airlines had urged the CDC to make the change.

The largest U.S. flight attendants union criticized Delta’s policy. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, tweeted last week that Delta “is telling workers across work groups that they should come to work w/ symptoms even if someone in the household tested positive.” She also said that positive workers were told to “come to work after 5 days if the fever is below 100.9, even if still testing positive.”
Delta issued a cease-and-desist letter to the union over its president’s comments. The union is trying to organize the airline’s flight attendants, one of the last nonunion flight attendant groups in the U.S.
Bastian defended the policy and said it was based on CDC guidance.

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Sustainable Energy

Sustainable Energy
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According to the International Energy Agency, international shipping was responsible for approximately 2% of “global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2020.”
With concerns about sustainability mounting, the sector will need to find new ways of reducing the environmental footprint of its operations.

The container ship MORTEN MÆRSK heading to Hamburg on April 22, 2020.
eyewave | iStock Editorial | Getty Images

The CEO of shipping giant Moller-Maersk admitted to CNBC Thursday that shifting to “green” fuels would come at a cost, but emphasized the importance of focusing on the bigger picture rather than short-term pain.  
Soren Skou’s comments come a day after his company said it wanted the entire business to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2040, 10 years ahead of its previous goal.

“When we embark on this carbon neutrality journey, we are going to use … green fuels,” Skou, who was speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” said. As a starting point, these fuels were “probably two to three times … much more expensive,” Skou said.
“But we’re looking at this over a 20 year horizon and therefore, we think that the inflationary impact will be very modest when it comes out to the consumer.”
“As an example, we are spending around $400 per container on fuels today,” Skou said. “If it triples we need to spend another $800 per container.”
“That’s of course a lot, but … inside the container you have 8,000 pairs of sneakers, for instance, so it’s 10 cents per pair of sneakers. So that’s why I think … for the consumer, it will be manageable.”

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According to the International Energy Agency, international shipping — a crucial cog in the world’s economy — was responsible for approximately 2% of “global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2020.”

With concerns about sustainability mounting and major economies and businesses around the world looking to cut emissions and meet net-zero targets, the sector will need to find new ways of reducing the environmental footprint of its operations.
Back in August, Maersk said it was ordering a number of large, ocean-going vessels able to run on what it called “carbon neutral methanol.” The firm said the vessels would be built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and have the capacity to carry around 16,000 containers.
Maersk said the ships would have a dual fuel engine set up, a feature which increases costs.
“Additional capital expenditure … for the dual fuel capability, which enables operation on methanol as well as conventional low Sulphur fuel, will be in the range of 10-15% of the total price,” it said.
Shipping is not unique in attempting to find more sustainable ways of powering operations. In aviation, for example, a lot of discussions have taken place about the potential of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
Last October the CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, acknowledged the need for ambitious sustainable aviation fuel targets but also expressed concerns about how food prices could be affected.
During a discussion at CNBC’s “Sustainable Future Forum,” O’Leary said his firm was investing “a lot of money” with Trinity College Dublin on research into SAF.  
In April 2021, the two organizations launched a sustainable aviation research center backed by a 1.5 million euro ($1.72 million) donation from the airline. As well as focusing on SAF, the center will look at noise mapping and zero-carbon propulsion systems for aircraft.
Ryanair has itself set a target of powering 12.5% of its flights with SAF by the year 2030. But speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick, O’Leary said he thought it was “a very ambitious target — I’m not sure we’ll get there.” 
He went on to articulate his feelings about the wider effects of increasing SAF usage. “I do worry over the longer term, though, on sustainable aviation fuels … what’s that going to do to food prices going forward?”
“I think we’re going to reach a point in the next 10 or 20 years where there will be challenges posed not just for the airline industry, but for industry in general, around sustainable aviation fuels where it may have an upward impact on food prices.”  More