Given the overwhelming fanboy appeal of PACIFIC RIM (Warners/Legendary), it’s not exactly a shock that the movie started strong with shows that started at 7PM Thursday night, earning $3.6M. It’s probably in line for a solid Friday as well–the question will be what happens when the usually frontloaded genre crowd is done and the rest of the weekend kicks in. It’s worth noting that two summer movies aimed at the same audience, The Purge and This Is The End, had night-before screenings that turned out to be at the high end of their total weekends, both at 10% or more. That could mean a $36M weekend for Pacific Rim in a worst-case scenario, although of course the comparison being pushed by the studio is with World War Z, which was on the low end with a 5.4% night-before result and pushed its $3.6M Thursday to a $66M weekend.
GROWN UPS 2 (Sony), also opened solidly with $2.3M on Thursday (starting 7PM as well), considerably below The Hangover Part III but better than The Heat. It’s aimed at a mix of Sandler’s male fans and families (dysfunctional families, to be sure).
| TITLE | THURSDAY NIGHT BOX OFFICE | WEEKEND BOX OFFICE | THURS AS % OF WEEKEND |
| IRON MAN 3 | 15.6M | 174.1M | 9% |
| THE GREAT GATSBY | 3.3M | 50.1M | 6.6% |
| STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS | 3.3M (Wed screenings pre-Thurs opening) |
70.2M | 4.7% |
| FAST & FURIOUS 6 | 6.5M | 97.4M | 6.7% |
| THE HANGOVER PART III | 3.1M | 41.7M | 7.4% |
| NOW YOU SEE ME | 1.5M | 29.4M | 5.1% |
| AFTER EARTH | 1M | 27.5M | 3.6% |
| THE PURGE | 3.4M | 34.1M | 10% |
| THE INTERNSHIP | 800K | 17.3M | 4.6% |
| THIS IS THE END | 2.2M (Tues screenings pre -Wed opening) |
20.7 | 10.6% |
| MAN OF STEEL | 12M (Wal-mart sponsored screenings) |
128.6M | 9.3% |
| WORLD WAR Z | 3.6M | 66.4M | 5.4% |
| MONSTERS UNIVERSITY | 2.6M | 82.4M | 3.2% |
| THE HEAT | 1M | 39.1M | 2.5% |
| WHITE HOUSE DOWN | 1.35M | 24.9M | 5.4% |
| DESPICABLE ME 2 | 4.7M (Tues screenings pre-Wed opening) |
83.5M | 5.6% |
| THE LONE RANGER | 2M(Tues screenings pre-Wed opening) | 29.2M | 6.8% |
| PACIFIC RIM | 3.6M | ??? | |
| GROWN UPS 2 | 2.3M | ??? |
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