After $1.3 million from midnight screenings and an estimated total of $20.3 million on Friday, Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman is looking very strong on its opening weekend. The film is currently targeting something like a $55 million three-day, but with a low 46% rating on RottenTomatoes and a middling “B” CinemaScore from audiences it could fall back slightly just as Men in Black III did last week.
Snow White carries a reported $170 million budget and Universal lowered expectations throughout the week, but an absolute barrage of marketing including nearly every television station has apparently paid off.
In second is last week’s #1, Men in Black III, pulled in an estimated $8.1 million on Friday and is looking at something around $25 million for the weekend, which would mean a 54% drop from last weekend’s $54 million opening as the film has clearly failed to catch on.
Last week’s other new opening, Warner’s Chernobyl Diaries isn’t fairing much better. After $7.9 million last weekend, the film added $1 million on Friday and won’t be hitting even $3 million this weekend. You can do the math on that drop. Fortunately the film didn’t cost the studio much so their probably still making money, it’s just not a Paranormal Activity kind of success.
The only other new film in the top ten on Friday was the little-known For Greater Glory, a historical war feature focused on the Cristeros War of the mid-twenties. The cast is stacked including the likes of Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, Oscar Isaac, Bruce Greenwood, Peter O’Toole, Bruce McGill, Nestor Carbonell, Ruben Blades and Catalina Sandino Moreno and with only 575 theaters it managed $585,000 and will likely finish the weekend around $1.5 million.
Meanwhile, overseas, Prometheus is hitting theaters and Deadline is reporting the film is enjoying the largest opening day in the UK ever. The site reports “Prometheus is 319% of the Snow White opening” and “161% of both Snow White and holdover Men in Black III” taking in an estimated $3.39 million on Friday despite having limited IMAX screenings due to sharing theaters with Men in Black. The film hits domestic theaters next weekend.
Finally, I pray none of you went to the theater to watch Piranha 3DD on one of its 86 theaters. The film was simultaneously released On Demand this weekend and I watched it last night with three others and it’s hard to even call it a movie it is so awful. Thankfully, the film only made $69,000 on Friday and will hopefully never be heard from again. If you went to see it in theaters I hope you asked for your money back.
I’ve included Friday’s top ten directly below and will be back on Sunday morning with a complete wrap-up.
- Snow White and the Huntsman – $20.3 million
- Men in Black III – $8.1 million
- The Avengers – $5.6 million
- What To Expect When You’re Expecting – $1.4 million
- The Dictator – $1.4 million
- Battleship – $1.3 million
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – $1.2 million
- Dark Shadows – $1.0 million
- Chernobyl Diaries – $1.0 million
- For Greater Glory – $585,000
