4-Day Wknd Est: AS - 105.3M, Pad - 25.2M, TWR - 24.5M,Taken 3 - 17.44M (pg 109)

[Yandereprime101189]

*sees the numbers for blackhat*

 

Well at least Chris has Avengers: Age of Ultron

[James]

I was betting on 50 Shades beating The Passion of the Christ, but it looks like American Sniper will have that honor first.

Edited January 17, 2015 by James

[acsc1312]

Avatar, he we come! Sniper hit 30m OD!   

[DAJK]

The year of the R Rated hit...

[#ED]

Avatar, he we come! Sniper hit 30m OD!   

 

[Jandrew]

The year of the R Rated hit...

I hope so! Maybe Hollywood will start rethinking making all their trntpoles and high progile movies PG13. You just have to make movies people want to see and you can recapture the adult demo.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Jandrew

[CJohn]

Next is Fifty Shades. Don't say there was no warning. That thing is gonna have a, at least, 40M OD. And Saturday will be at least equally big. 

[BK007]

I don't think it will ever happen really. The 2nd half of January, the 2nd half of February, the 2nd half of August, 1st half of September and the last weekend of April (even with Fast Five opening huge there a few years ago, the movie was put there because the Summer opener was weak enough) seem to be stuck forever in the dumping ground zone. 

 

Superbowl, start of summer, end of summer explains 3/4 of your areas.

 

There will be dead areas around the year, most certainly, but after this, Gravity, Lego, Fast/Furious, Guardians- there's more evidence that, done well, a movie can make waves anywhere. Still though, all of these are reliant on one movie as opposed to the whole month, which is why the misconception or stereotype remains. Not every movie is widely appealing, can be a hit etc. 

[MattW]

The top rated R openings isn't a very good list as many opened mid-week.  

 

Matrix reloaded made 158m in it's first week (if we include the wed previews as part of thurs as all movies today do), Hangover 2 did 149m, and passion did 145m, and I think all would be over 100m OW if they had opened on a friday.  

 

But still, AS might double the previous best opening for the month.  When was the last time that happened?

[kayumanggi]

'American Sniper' could also score the biggest opening ever for a Winter release (January/February): http://t.co/rIHzgPsNW0

— Box Office Mojo (@boxofficemojo)

January 17, 2015

[kayumanggi]

Rank	Title (click to view)	Studio	Opening*	% of Total	Theaters	Average	Total Gross^	Date**
1	The Passion of the Christ	NM	$83,848,082	22.6%	3,043	$27,554	$370,274,604	2/25/04
2	The LEGO Movie	WB	$69,050,279	26.8%	3,775	$18,291	$257,760,692	2/07/14
3	Hannibal	MGM	$58,003,121	35.1%	3,230	$17,957	$165,092,268	2/09/01
4	Valentine's Day	WB	$56,260,707	50.9%	3,665	$15,351	$110,485,654	2/12/10
5	Ghost Rider	Sony	$45,388,836	39.2%	3,619	$12,541	$115,802,596	2/16/07
6	Hitch	Sony	$43,142,214	24.0%	3,575	$12,067	$179,495,555	2/11/05
7	Ride Along	Uni.	$41,516,170	30.8%	2,663	$15,590	$134,938,200	1/17/14
8	The Vow	SGem	$41,202,458	33.0%	2,958	$13,929	$125,014,030	2/10/12
9	Shutter Island	Par.	$41,062,440	32.1%	2,991	$13,729	$128,012,934	2/19/10
10	Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail	LGF	$41,030,947	45.3%	2,032	$20,192	$90,508,336	2/20/09

 

[Avatree]

I was betting on 50 Shades beting The Passion of the Christ, but it looks like American Sniper will have that honor first.

If American Sniper beats Passion, 50SoG will still beat Passion's February record.

[DAJK]

I hope so! Maybe Hollywood will start rethinking making all their trntpoles and high progile movies PG13. You just have to make movies people want to see and you can recapture the adult demo.

As long as they don't make them R just for the sake of being R. The story has to merrit an R rating. I don't want CW to be R for example, because it doesn't need to be.

[Jandrew]

American Sniper may end up being a box office game changer like 300. March used to be a box office dead zone till 300 opened to 70M there leading to big franchise pics and blockbusters opening in March. Sniper may do the same for January.

IMO its been slowly getting in that direction since 2009 witn Taken/Blart/Tarino. And then Avatar, Ride Along, etc. January is still a good dumping spot, but its proving it can hold high profile releases as well, even though coming after Xmas.

[pepsa]

This is just insane!!! I love this. If this isn't the way to kick of 2015 I don't know it

[grim22]

Just realized that this will be one of the biggest debut weekends ever, and it isn't a franchise movie or an anticipated sequel and is R-rated to boot. The top R-rated openings are Matrix Reloaded, Hangover 2, Passion of the Christ, 300 and Hannibal. Only 300 was a non-franchise movie and unfamiliar property(not many knew about the comic book at all), maybe Passion (but I doubt if Jesus can be called unfamiliar).

This opening is almost unprecedented for a R-rated biopic.

Edited January 17, 2015 by grim22

[Neo]

Was this posted:

NORTH AMERICA: Early Weekend Projections: 'American Sniper' Stuns with $76M/$89M 3-Day/4-Day January Record Open; 'The Wedding Ringer' Nets Strong $20.5M/$23.5M; 'Paddington' Wins Over Families at $18.7M/$24.8M (Saturday Update)

Edited January 17, 2015 by Neo

[acsc1312]

That A+ cinemascore is the really incredible part. I think it'll hold well despite football and such.  

[pepsa]

For me avengers is still the most impresive opening weekend ever, I wasn't here when it happend so I don't know what you guys were expecting. But for me, as a normal guy in Belgium I never heard about Avengers, when I saw the post in the Theater I tought: this is lame, guys in sily outfits.. 6 month later I go to BOM and I see that freaking film made 200+ OW, and I tought those americans are nuts. First thing I did, bought the movie watched it and i still tought you were nuts

[Ozymandias]

Was this posted:

NORTH AMERICA: Early Weekend Projections: 'American Sniper' Stuns with $76M/$89M 3-Day/4-Day January Record Open; 'The Wedding Ringer' Nets Strong $20.5M/$23.5M; 'Paddington' Wins Over Families at $18.7M/$24.8M (Saturday Update)

 

So Shawn shawn is predicting 89m 4-day and BOM is predicting 101m 4-day.