Buoyed by excellent reviews, Dan Trachtenberg’s “Predator: Badlands” is coming in well ahead of expectations at the box-office.
Going into the weekend, its numbers were projected to be around $25 million. Then the film pulled in $15.6 million on Friday (with Thursday previews), and so the weekend estimate has now risen to $37 million.
That will be a record opening for a “Predator” solo film. Additionally, the film snagged an A- CinemaScore, the best a “Predator” film has ever seen – higher than even the B+ of the first two. Comscore PostTrak is also doing stellar audience response numbers.
Despite the switch to a lighter PG-13 rating, the film only pulled in 5% for the under 17 demographic. IMAX and premium large-format screens are driving 53% of its haul.
As for the rest, “Regretting You” is coming in second with $7.3 million in its third week – down just 7% from its opening last week. “Black Phone 2” is third with $5.2 million, and the faith-based “Sarah’s Oil” is fourth with a $4.4 million debut.
There were three smaller film newcomers this week, almost all arthouse plays despite all three getting wide releases, and all of them failed to get much traction. The best performer in fifth place is the Russell Crowe-led “Nuremberg” which began with $3.8 million and is getting very good audience reviews – especially amongst older crowds.
Faring poorly in eighth was Lynne Ramsey’s “Die My Love,” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. That took in just $2.7 million and landed a dismal D+ CinemaScore along with pretty atrocious Comscore PostTrak scores.
Even worse was the Sydney Sweeney-led “Christy” which didn’t even crack the Top 10 and is headed for a $1.25 million debut, though its B+ CinemaScore is better than the B- that “The Smashing Machine” got.
Source: Deadline
