‘Logan’ Runs To $88.4M Opening; Breaks Wolverine Series & More R-Rated Records – Monday Update
Final Writethru, Monday: Late last night we saw that the Hugh Jackman movie was on track for an $87.56M opening after a Sunday that was off 26% from Saturday’s $31.3.
Well, Logan is even bigger than that.
Per estimates this morning, Logan will clock $88.4M in his first weekend, thanks to a Sunday that dipped 23% for $24.1M.
Logan now ranks as the 4th best R-Rated domestic opening behind Deadpool ($132.4M), The Matrix Reloaded ($91.77M) and American Sniper ($89.3M). The Wolverine threequel has already sliced up other R-rated movie openings including Hangover II ($85.9M), Fifty Shades of Grey ($85.1M) and Passion of the Christ ($83.8M).
Among other records, Logan is the best opening ever for director James Mangold and it will rank as Jackman’s third best behind X-Men: The Last Stand ($102.75M) and X-Men: Days of Future Past ($90.8M). The movie also reps the third best for producer Simon Kinberg after Deadpool and Days of Future Past, the second best for producer Hutch Parker, and the fifth best for producer Lauren Shuler Donner.
Final weekend actuals for March 3-5 from ComScore:
Logan (Fox), $88.4M, 4,071 locations, $21,717 average/1 Week.
Get Out, (Uni), $28.2, -15%, 2,938 locations, $9,611 average, Total: $78M/2 Weeks.
The Shack, (LG), $16.1M, 2,888 locations, $5,600 average/1 Week.
Lego Batman Movie, (WB), $11.7M, -39%, 3,656 locations, $3,201 average, Total: $148.7M/4 Weeks.
John Wick: Chapter Two, (LG), $4.8M, -49%, 2,475 locations, $1,941 average, Total: $82.9M/4 Weeks.
Before I Fall, (OR), $4.69M, 2,346 locations, $1,999 average/1 Week.
Hidden Figures, (Fox), $3.83M, -34%, 1,582 locations, $2,419 average, Total: $158.8M/11 Weeks.
The Great Wall (Uni), $3.6M, -60%, 2,314 locations, $1,567 average, Total:$41.3M/3 Weeks.
Fifty Shades Darker, (Uni), $3.55M,-54%, 2,205 locations, $1,614 average, Total:$110M/4 Weeks.
La La Land, (LG), $2.98M, -36%, 1,411 locations, $2,117 average, Total: $145.7M/13 Weeks.
Fist Fight, (WB), $2.86M, -57%,2,303 locations, $1,242 average, Total: $28.2M/3 Weeks.
Rock Dog, (LG), $2.3M, -38%,2,077 locations, $1,108 average, Total: $6.7M/2 Weeks.
Moonlight, (A24), $2.3M, +227%,1,564 locations, $1,471 average, Total:$25.1M/20 Weeks.
Lion, (TWC), $2.1M, -45%, 1,260 locations, $1,687 average, Total: $46.5M/15 Weeks.
Split, (Uni), $2.09M, -49%, 1,126 locations, $1,858 average, Total:$134M/ 7 Weeks.
A Dog’s Purpose, (Uni), $1.76M, -51%, 1,494 locations, $1,178 average, Total:$60.2M/6 Weeks.
Table 19, (FSL), $1.58M, 868 locations, $1,821 average/1 Week.
Moana, (Dis), $633K, -24%,321 locations, $1,973 average, Total:$246.9M/15 Weeks.
A United Kingdom, (FSL), $632K, +25%, 271 locations, $2,333 average, Total:$1.8M/4 Weeks.
I Am Not Your Negro, (Mag), $476K, -42%, 235 locations, $2,025 average, Total: $5.55M/5 Weeks.
6th Writethru Sunday AM: At $85.3M, Logan easily ranks as the best opening in the Wolverine trilogy, is the best opening for an R-rated movie in March, and the fifth highest overall for the rating, whipping Fifty Shades of Grey ($85.1M) and Passion of the Christ ($83.8M). Nancy Tartaglione reports that Logan was on a tear around the globe with an awesome $237.8M opening, blowing away our $170M estimates. In addition, Logan reps the best opening for director James Mangold, his previous high being the pic’s 2013 predecessor The Wolverine ($53.1M).
Given the groundswell from great reviews to an A- CinemaScore, Logan is bound to post a bigger weekend opening by the time the town wakes up tomorrow. And get this: There’s a shot that Logan, should it fall 45% next weekend to $46M+ could beat Warner Bros./Legendary’s $190M Kong Skull Island for the top spot next weekend. Tracking currently has Kong in the $40M-$45M range stateside.
Logan pushed the weekend’s total ticket sales per ComScore to $184M, +13% over the same frame a year ago. However, the period of Jan. 1-March 5 which has grossed $1.946 billion at the B.O., still lags behind the same frame last year by 2%. By the time, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast enters the marketplace that could all change.
“This is a movie that Jim and Hugh set out to make, executed it perfectly and fans have responded and rewarded it around the world,” beamed 20th Century Fox domestic distribution president Chris Aronson this morning.
In fact, well before Deadpool even cracked the door for R-rated superhero pics, Mangold and Hugh Jackman always wanted to make a gritty, raw Wolverine movie for the uber X-men fans. As we mentioned in our previous post, Fox has touched a fanboy nerve with Deadpool and Logan, who by the way aren’t fringe Marvel universe characters: The studio has truly changed the game on the gravitas of superhero movies by making the characters edgy and rooting them in reality. Some rival studios out there aren’t swallowing this well, because they can’t do this with their superhero properties; more precisely they can’t have their comic book feature adaptations rated R for the sake of their brand or the superheros themselves. As we reported before the weekend, a movie poll found that 71% contend more superhero movies should be rated R, while 86% were interested in seeing a more violent, R-rated X-Men movie with Logan this weekend.
Typically superhero movies organically see a double-digit percent decline in their Friday-to-Saturday grosses. Not Logan. He collected $31.3M in its second day of release, down a low 5% from Friday’s $33.1M. Some projections had Logan dipping 15% on Saturday. And if you really want to splice hairs, technically speaking Logan‘s Saturday is actually +33% over Friday, that is when you back out the $9.5M Thursday previews from Friday’s $33.1M. However, distributors in recent years have preferred to roll that preview cash into Friday’s box office.
Logan drew 63% guys, 37% women with 83% between 18 and 44 years of age. The movie earned five-out-five stars in exit polls. Logan‘s top cities were New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Antonio, Washington D.C., Toronto, Houston, Montreal, San Francisco, and Calgary. Canada repped 8.2% of the weekend’s ticket sales with PLFs pulling in $12.3M from 558 for a 15% slice of Logan‘s pie. IMAX drew 12% of the marketplace with $10M from 381 locations.
Universal/Blumhouse’s Get Out also swelled on Saturday with a 44% gain per the studio over Friday for $11.6M and second weekend take of $26.1M, set to dip an astounding -22% for a 10-day running total of $76M.
Lionsgate/Summit’s faith-based movie The Shack based on the bestselling William P. Young novel also saw gains in its second day of release of +11% or $6.1M putting its three-day opening at $16.1M in third. That’s the best for the faith-based genre in some time beating the first weekends of War Room ($11.4M), Risen ($11.8M), and last year’s sleeper Miracles From Heaven ($14.8M). Along with Shack, Lionsgate counts three titles in the top 10 including John Wick: Chapter 2 ($4.7M fourth weekend, cume $82.9M) and La La Land ($2.98M in 13th weekend for a total of $145.7M). In addition to Shack‘s A CinemaScore, The Shack earned a healthy 85% positive on Screen Engine/ComScore’s PostTrak with older females at 66% women, 84% over 25 attending. A solid 70% plan on passing around the good word about the movie to their friends.
Social media monitor Relish Mix points out that The Shack‘s social media universe across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube views counts 42M which beats the 2016 average for a faith-based film’s SMU of 34M.
The Shack partnered with record label Atlantic to promote the film with Faith Hill, Skillet, pic’s star Tim McGraw and many other artists posting 17 videos to the label’s playlist specific to the film. Relish Mix says, “This promotion is smart, not only because Atlantic’s subscribers (5.6M) are more than Lionsgate’s total fans/followers for the film (3.6M), but also because so many fans ask about the music that plays in trailers, teasers and other movie clips these days. Other studios could certainly benefit from leveraging the soundtrack, too.” Of course, the film’s leading social media star is McGraw who counts 12.6M followers across all platforms. Skillet with 6.1M follows, along with Hill’s 5.1M.
Getting ready for #TheShack premiere tonight. pic.twitter.com/EvngDSEWSO
— Faith Hill (@FaithHill) February 28, 2017
Open Road’s Before I Fall, based on the YA novel by Lauren Oliver, was +19% from its opening day for $2M putting it on pace for a $4.9M opening. The movie cost $5M before P&A, but Open Road acquired this title out of Cannes last year. Still, not a good start in any way shape or form and even though teen girls will be starting spring break, that B CinemaScore spells for a short theatrical life. Rivals have advised that if the P&A for Before I Fall exists in the $20M range, then an opening of $13M would have been the ideal three-day take. According to PostTrak, Before I Fall drew 72% females, 65% under 25. It received a low 72% positive score, with a little more than half the audience saying they’d recommend to their friends.
RelishMix saw that there was a push to connect with teens on social media with this film. Open Road partnered with AwesomenessTV and its social influencers to promote Before I Fall to its fanbase, who no doubt share a lot in common with the typical Awesomeness viewer. Kian Lawley, who co-stars in the movie, along with several other Awesomeness stars participated in clips ranging from must two minutes to over 13 minutes promoting the movie. Says RelishMix, “It’s a smart move to partner with the channel and its 4.8M subscribers as Open Road has a small social reach to date.” Lawley led the charge among social media stars for the movie with over 10.7M followers, followed by Diego Boneta (2.4M) and leading star Zoey Deutch (1.2M). Before the film opened RelishMix noticed that the social conversation was split on the movie between the book’s fans and those moviegoers who had zero patience for a loop-plotted movie a la Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow.
Oscar best picture winner Moonlight from A24 made $2.5M from its 1,594 expansion for a 20th weekend running cume of $25.4M. The Barry Jenkins-directed title is already available on home entertainment, which was the case for the last two best picture winners Spotlight and Birdman.
However, Moonlight made more than both of those titles did in their post-Oscar weekends: last year, Spotlight made $1.77M while Birdman in 2015 made $1.9M.
The Weinstein Co.’s Lion had a $2.2M weekend, taking its cume to $46.6M, with a PTA topping Moonlight‘s at $1,746. The pic’s post-Oscar weekend also outstripped that of Spotlight and Birdman following the ceremony. It wouldn’t be a surprise should this heartwarming title hit $50M stateside in the weekends to come.
The top 10 per studio-reported Sunday AM estimates for March 3-5:
1.) Logan(Fox), 4,071 theaters / $33M Fri. (includes $9.5M in previews) /$31.3M Sat/$21M Sun/ 3-day: $85.3M /Wk 1
2.) Get Out (UNI), 2,938 theaters (+157) / $8M Fri. /$11.6M Sat/$6.5M Sun/3-day: $26.1M (-22%)/Total: $76M/Wk 2
3.) The Shack (LG), 2,888 theaters / $5.5M Fri. (includes $850k in previews) / $6.1m Sat/$4.55M Sun/3-day: $16.1M /Wk 1
4). The LEGO Batman Movie (WB), 3,656 theaters (-401) / $2.5M Fri. /$5.56M Sat/$3.6M Sun/ 3-day: $11.65M (-39%) / Total: $148.6M/Wk 4
5.) Before I Fall (OR), 2,346 theaters / $1.66M Fri. (includes $850k in previews) /$2M Sat/$1.3M Sun/ 3-day: $4.9M /Wk 1
6.) John Wick: Chapter 2 (LGF), 2,475 theaters (-479) / $1.2M Fri. /$2.1M Sat/$1.3M Sun/ 3-day: $4.7M (-50%) / Total:$82.9M / Wk 4
7.) Hidden Figures (FOX), 1,582 theaters (-440) / $1M Fri. /$1.8M Sat/$1M Sun / 3-day: $3.8M (-36%) / Total: $158.7M / Wk 11
8.) The Great Wall(UNI/LEG), 2,314 theaters (-1,014) / $926K Fri. /$1.6M Sat/$974K Sun/ 3-day: $3.5M (-62%) / Total: $41.2M / Wk 3
9.) Fifty Shades Darker(UNI), 2,205 theaters (-1,011) / $1.1M Fri. /$1.5M Sat/$885K Sun/3-day: $3.485M (-55%) / Total: $109.9M / Wk 4
10.) La La Land (LGF), 1,411 theaters (-322) / $816K Fri /$1.3M Sat/$809K Sun/ 3-day: $2.975M (-37%) / Total: $145.7M / Wk 13
NOTABLES:
Moonlight (A24), 1,564 theaters (+979) / 3-day: $2.5M (+257%) / Total: $25.1M / Wk 20
Lion (TWC) 1,260 theaters (-542)/$565K Fri/$962K Sat/$673K Sun/3-day: $2.2M (-42%)/Total: $46.6M/Wk 15
Rock Dog (LGF), 2,077 theaters / $412K Fri./$1.08M Sat/$708K Sun/ 3-day: $2.2M (-41%) /Total:$6.6M Wk 2
Table 19 (FSL), 868 theaters / $517K Fri. / $675K Sat/ $383K Sun/3-day: $1.575M /Wk 1
Collide (OR/IM Global), 1,002 theaters (1,043) / $51K Fri. /$86K Sat/$56K Sun/ 3-day: $194K (-87%)/Total: $2.2M/Wk 2
The Last Word (BST), 4 theaters / $8,9K per theater/3-day: $35k/Wk 1
4th Writethru Update, Saturday AM: A year after they rattled the box office annals with Deadpool, 20th Century Fox is proving once again that there’s money in R-rated Marvel movies with the final Wolverine title, Logan. The Hugh Jackman-tentpole now holds the record for the biggest opening day for an R-rated March release with an estimated $33.1M (including Thursday’s $9.5M). It’s also the third best opening day overall for the rating after Deadpool ($47.3M) and The Matrix Reloaded ($37.5M). Prior to Logan‘s March record, Warner Bros’ 300 owned the top first day in March for a R-rated movie with $28.1M.
Among opening days for superhero movies, Logan is 4% off the $34.4M earned by 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the first movie in the spinoff trilogy.
All of this puts Logan on track for a weekend debut of $81M at 4,071 theaters. Not only is that the widest release ever for an R-rated pic, but it’s the top opening for the restricted rating in March beating 300‘s $70.8M. Other records: it’s the second best for the Wolverine franchise after 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($85M), and the seventh best three-day debut for an R-rated movie. Logan cost just under $100M before P&A, and it’s forecasted to make another $100M overseas this weekend (sans Japan).
At a time when studios have no choice but to plunge the depths of their comic-book superhero universes and gamble on new characters while desperately trying to reboot icons like Batman and Spider-Man, Fox is taking a cue from last year’s Deadpool. Let’s face it, the Pico Blvd. studio has seen the light and knows that fanboys (who just get older) are tiring from PG-13 comic-book tropes where there’s always a big noisy battle to save the world at the expense of leveling a metropolis (now how many times have we seen that?). With Logan, Fox has delivered a gritty, blood-dripping, Dirty Harry-like, raw X-Men movie that jibes more with the canon’s sensibility than its previous mutant teenage angst-in-tights titles.
Recently, a Fandango poll reported that out of 1,000 moviegoers, 71% contend that more superhero movies should be rated R, while 86% were interested in seeing a more violent, R-rated X-Men movie with Logan. The James Mangold-directed threequel gets an A- CinemaScore which when coupled with its critical reviews, spells for a fantastic future as March will become even more crowded with tentpole titles, i.e. Kong Skull Island, Beauty and the Beast, aiming to capitalize on kids’ spring breaks.
Fox knew they had something special with Logan and showed off the first 30 42 minutes at a product reel back in December. They also screened the movie to the L.A. press 16 days before its opening, and that helped turn up the pic’s heat on Rotten Tomatoes with a 94% certified fresh rating.
Even with Logan dragging the majority of moviegoers into the theater, Universal/Blumhouse’s Get Out is thriving with a second weekend of $26.5M, -20%. That’s an amazing hold for a horror movie in its second weekend considering they typically drop on average -60%. There are other horror titles that have posted fantastic holds and spikes, i.e. Scream and Paranormal Activity, but those movies were platform releases and aren’t an exact comparison here. Get Out‘s second weekend ease is even better than Split‘s second weekend decline (-36%). Running total by Sunday will stand at $76.3M. Why are these numbers so awesome? It’s more than a horror movie say rivals; it’s a movie like Hidden Figures that takes on another, cathartic meaning in these off-kilter Trump times. And more than that — the movie is hysterical and a hell-of-a-fun ride.
Lionsgate/Summit’s The Shack is looking very strong for a faith-based movie drawing $5.5M on Friday and $15.3M for the weekend at 2,888 theaters in third. That’s a higher debut than last year’s Lenten releases Risen ($11.8M opening) and Miracles From Heaven ($14.8M FSS), and tonight it lands an A CinemaScore. Miracles From Heaven earned one of the rare studio A+s last year and saw a 4X multiple with a domestic end cume of $61M. Shack enters the spring marketplace on fire, so it’s bound to see a similar type of trajectory. Together with La La Land and John Wick: Chapter 2, Lionsgate counts three titles in the top 10.
The Shack was first published in 2007 and sold over 20M copies. The movie stars Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer and Tim McGraw and follows Mack Phillips (Worthington), a family man who has lost his youngest daughter to a serial killer. He receives a mysterious note, which he figures is from God, inviting him to a shack.
Lionsgate launched a multi-prong campaign canvassing faith, family, Hispanic and African American crowds, as well as a direct outreach to book and music fans. The faith campaign began about a year ago with a curated Faith influencer word-of-mouth screening program that reached 4K+ pastors, bishops, lay leaders, non-profit executives and business leaders. There was also a national partnership with Cru, the largest Christian Ministry, which reaches over 40K college and high school students on 1,600 campuses. In addition there was a 30-minute special airing on Christian Broadcasting Network, along with a “Making of” special on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Lionsgate also hosted a word-of-mouth screening program for influencer athletes, including Tim Tebow, Kurt Warner, Jennie Finch and Dara Torres, all of whom posted their reactions to their respective social media platforms. With the film coming out, the book has popped back up to No. 1 on Barnes and Noble’s Fiction Best Sellers. It’s also No. 3 on USA Today’s best-selling books. And it continues to ascend the New York Times Bestseller list, moving up one slot on Trade Paperback Fiction (Now #3) and Combined Print and E-Book Fiction (Now #4). On Apple, The Shack is now No. 1 (was No. 3) on the Top Paid Fiction & Literature Books and #2 on Top Paid Books (Was #5).
The Shack soundtrack dropped on Feb. 24 featuring tunes from a plethora of country’s top artists including McGraw, Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Brett Eldredge and Christian rock band, Skillet, among many others.
Open Road’s Before I Fall, which is based on Lauren Oliver’s YA book, is currently estimated to post $1.6M for Friday and $4.6M for the weekend at 2,346. The movie carries a $5M production cost before P&A. Open Road snapped up U.S. rights to the movie at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, and it’s the first release from Awesomeness Pictures. The teenage girl demo has been a hard nut to crack lately. Original drama-edies like The Edge of Seventeen (died with a $4.75M FSS) and romances The Space Between Us ($3.7M opening, $7.9M) couldn’t engage this demo. And when you have an established piece of source material for young women, you have to make sure it’s going to strike a nerve and stoke the fanbase. For example, The 5th Wave, a popular YA novel should have been a hit, but couldn’t make a splash last winter with $10.3M opening, and $34.9M final domestic cume. The biggest sting here is that Before I Fall is the third dud for Open Road so far in 2017 following Sleepless ($30M production cost, $20.7M domestic B.O.) and last weekend’s Collide (they have a distribution fee on that one, but it’s only grossed $2.2M). Before I Fall gets a B CinemaScore and a middling response from critics at 68% fresh. They’ve slapped the movie as a mopey version of Groundhog Day as it centers around a girl who is stuck in a daily loop.
Hidden Figures may have lost at the Oscars, but at the box office, its beating Oscar’s big winners La La Land and Moonlight. The femme NASA scientists pic looks to make an estimated $3.7M, with a great -36% hold in its 11th weekend, for a running cume of $158.6M. Lionsgate/Summit’s six Oscar winner La La Land should come in 10th with $3.1M, -33% for a running cume by Sunday of $145.6. Oscar’s best picture winner Moonlight from A24 is grossing $647K from more than 1,564 venues tonight for an estimated $2.2M 20th weekend take. Total running cume for the Barry Jenkins-directed movie should be $25.1M by Sunday. Like the best picture predecessors before it, last year’s Spotlight and 2015’s Birdman, Moonlight is already available in the home entertainment window. However, its projected post-Oscar weekend will outstrip those two titles’ respective post-Oscar weekend takes of $1.77M and $1.9M.
RelatedWhat Oscar’s Best Pic Snafu Means For ‘Moonlight’ & ‘La La Land’; There’s A Surprising B.O. Takeaway
Outside of Logan‘s weekend theater average of $19,9K and Get Out‘s near $10K, Bleecker Street’s The Last Word starring Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried has the best per theater on the specialty circuit with $8,4K.
Here’s the chart for the weekend of March 3-5 based on Saturday industry figures:
1.) Logan(Fox), 4,071 theaters / $33.1M Fri. (includes $9.5M in previews) / 3-day: $81M /Wk 1
2.) Get Out (UNI), 2,938 theaters (+157) / $8M Fri. (-26%) / 3-day: $26.5M (-20%)/Total: $76.3M/Wk 2
3.) The Shack (LG), 2,888 theaters / $5.5M Fri. (includes $850k in previews) / 3-day: $15.3M /Wk 1
4). The LEGO Batman Movie (WB), 3,656 theaters (-401) / $2.5M Fri. (-40%) / 3-day: $11.1M (-42%) / Total: $148.2M/Wk 4
5.) John Wick: Chapter 2(LGF), 2,475 theaters (-479) / $1.3M Fri. (-46%) / 3-day: $4.8M (-48%) / Total:$82.9M / Wk 4
6.) Before I Fall (OR), 2,346 theaters / $1.6M Fri. (includes $850k in previews) / 3-day: $4.6M /Wk 1
7.) Hidden Figures (FOX), 1,582 theaters (-440) / $1M Fri. (-37%) / 3-day: $3.7M (-36%) / Total: $158.6M / Wk 11
8.) The Great Wall(UNI/LEG), 2,314 theaters (-1,014) / $921K Fri. (-61%) / 3-day: $3.5M (-62%) / Total: $41.2M / Wk 3
9.) Fifty Shades Darker(UNI), 2,205 theaters (-1,011) / $1.1M Fri. (-58%) / 3-day: $3.4M (-56%) / Total: $110 / Wk 4
10.) La La Land (LGF), 1,411 theaters (-322) / $815K Fri (-33%) / 3-day: $3.1M (-33%) / Total: $145.6M / Wk 13
NOTABLES:
Moonlight (A24), 1,564 theaters (+979) / $647K Fri (+214%) / 3-day: $2.2M (+214%) / Total: $25.1M / Wk 20
Rock Dog (LGF), 2,077 theaters / $407K Fri. (-55%)/ 3-day: $1.9M (-48%) /Total:$6.3M Wk 2
Table 19 (FSL), 868 theaters / $517K Fri. / 3-day: $1.5M /Wk 1
Collide (OR/IM Global), 1,002 theaters (1,043) / $50K Fri. (-91%) / 3-day: $165K (-89%)/Total: $2.2M/Wk 2
The Last Word (BST), 4 theaters / $11K Fri. / 3-day: $34k/Wk 1
PREVIOUS, Friday, 7:21 AM: 20th Century Fox’s Logan roared last night with a $9.5 million take, the third highest for an R-rated preview after record holder Deadpool ($12.7M) and The Hangover Part II ($10.4M from midnight shows).
Heading into this weekend, Fox was tracking Logan to a $65M opening, however, rivals had it higher between $70M-$75M. There’s also a group of aggressive trackers out there who firmly believe Logan is destined to make $80M-plus. That’s not a crazy projection based on Wolverine’s money last night, coupled with the fact that the James Mangold-directed movie counts a 93% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes — the best badge a superhero movie can have in this day and age, guaranteeing long legs. By the way, it’s also the best RT rating for a Wolverine movie, which has seen its critical grades improve from the first 2009 movie (38% rotten) to the 2013 sequel (69% fresh). Could Logan post the biggest opening in the Wolverine trilogy, beating the first installment’s $85M opening? It’s not unreasonable.
Logan‘s Thursday inches out the $9.4M preview cash earned by Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange back in November. That Marvel movie, rated PG-13, continued on to make a $32.6M Friday and an $85M weekend opening. Close to 29% of Doctor Strange‘s preview money counted toward its first day tally.
In addition, Logan knocks out the $8.2M made by X-Men: Apocalypse on its Thursday night. That comic-book movie played over Memorial Day weekend, earning a $26.3M Friday, and $65.7M three-day. Fandango reported this week that Logan pre-sales were outstripping all previous X-Men titles not counting Deadpool.
Last year X-Men spinoff Deadpool, also from Fox/Marvel drew $47.3M on its first day with Thursday night repping close to 27% of that figure. However, that pic’s $132.4M record R-rated opening had the testosterone of Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day behind it.
Also yesterday, Universal/Blumhouse’s Get Out continued to pull in crowds with $3.6M at 2,781 theaters. As we pointed out a couple of days ago, Jordan Peele’s feature directorial is putting up the type of numbers we typically see during the summer for a horror film. First week’s cume: $49.8M. Rivals predict that Get Out will shoot past $100M, and that it will only dip 35 to 40% in its second weekend for $20M to $21.6M.
In addition last night, Lionsgate/Summit previewed their faith-based title The Shack at 2,500 theaters, grossing $850K. Industry estimates earlier this week had the pic based on the New York Times bestseller by William P. Young opening between $10M-$12M. Advance ticket sales heading into the weekend for The Shack were outpacing that of last year’s Risen ($11.8M opening) and Miracles From Heaven ($14.8M FSS)
Open Road is also opening Before I Fall in 2,346 locations. It’s a microbudget movie with a $5M production cost, geared toward teens. The Ry Russo-Young directed title premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last month.
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