Franchise sequels are typically more frontloaded than the original installments, because there’s an established fanbase that wants to catch up with the latest update to the story. For example, the first Hunger Games made $19.7M on its Thursday night, which made up part of a $67.3M opening day, while Catching Fire had $25.3M on Thursday as part of a $71M opening day. That should particularly be the case for INSURGENT (Summit/Lionsgate), because unlike Divergent, it’s showing in 3D and IMAX, with the premium ticket prices they garner. Nevertheless, Insurgent‘s $4.1M Thursday start was down about 16% from Divergent‘s $4.9M. As it was, Insurgent was expected to barely outgross its predecessor, even with the premium tickets, but now it seems possible that even that won’t happen. The full Friday number for Divergent was $22.8M (on its way to a $54.6M weekend), so that will be the number in play today.
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About the Author
Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."
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