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SUNDAY AM: Here are Fox’s final figures for the franchise prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine – $35M on Friday (including $5 million in midnight shows), $29.7M on Saturday, and an estimated $22.2M for Sunday. That makes for an $87M weekend — better than the 1st and 2nd installments in the X-Men franchise, but well behind the 3rd. That’s certainly good enough to warrant another Wolverine.
In 2nd place, New Line/Warner Bros’ Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past debuted to a less-than-satisfying $15.3M weekend.
Here’s the Top 10:
1. Wolverine (Fox) OPENER [4,099 Theaters] $87M Wkd
2. Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past (NL/WB) OPENER [3,175] $15.3 Wkd
3. Obsessed (SG/Sony) [2,514] WEEK 2, $12.2M Wkd (-57%), Cume $47M
4. 17 Again (NL/WB) [3,255] WEEK 3, $6.3M Wkd, Cume $48.4M
5. Monsters v Aliens (DWA/Par) WEEK 6, [2,626] $5.8M Wkd, Cume $182.4M
6. The Soloist (DW/Par) [2,033] WEEK 2, $5.6M Wkd (-42%), Cume $18.1M
7. Earth (Disney) [1,804] WEEK 2, $4.1M Wkd (-53%), Cume $21.8M
8. Fighting (Rogue/Uni) [2,312] WEEK 2, $4.1M Wkd (-62%), Cume $17.5M
9. Hannah Montana (Disney) [2,819] WEEK 4, $4M Wkd, Cume $70.8M
10. State of Play [2,445] WEEK 3, $3.6M Wkd, Cume $30.8M
SATURDAY 9 PM: Sources tell me that Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine made about $31 million Saturday so the weekend should top out at $89M. In 2nd place, New Line/Warner Bros’ Ghosts of Girlfriends Past earned $6.2M Saturday for a $16M weekend. And No. 3 goes to Screen Gems / Sony’s Obsessed with $5.7M Saturday for a $13M weekend and new cume of $47.5M.
SATURDAY AM: Even rival studios are saying it’s possible for the franchise prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine to scoop up $90M this weekend if moviegoing stays strong, though a safer bet might be $85M. (Photos by Jim Stevenson: 9:45 PM show at Vista Theatre in Los Feliz.)
FRIDAY 10 PM UPDATE: Sources tell me that Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine had a stunning $35 million debut Friday thanks in part to heavy attendance at tonight’s shows and the studio’s widest release ever into 4,099 theaters. That includes the $5 million midnight shows at 2,000 venues.) Comparables include Iron Man, which made $39M its opening Friday, and Fast & Furious which earned $30.5M.
In 2nd place is New Line/Warner Bros’ Ghosts of Girlfriends Past which debuted with $5.8M Friday for a projected weekend total somewhere around $15M.
FRIDAY 10:15 AM: I’m told that unofficial estimates for Thursday midnight / Friday 12:01 AM screenings at 2,000 theaters have Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine opening to close to $5 million, which is a good start. Besides the widest release in Fox history into 4,099 North American venues, the studio will be showing the prequel on 9,000+ prints in 101 markets internationally (excluding Mexico, India, and Japan. So the summer movie season is on!
Already, rival studios are telling me that New Line/Warner Bros’ Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past is running behind Maid Of Honor which opened to $14.7M on the same weekend last year. “McDreamy trumps Dirk Pitt?”
Fandango reports that Wolverine was scooping up 81% of all online ticket sales as of 9 AM with the buyers averaging 48%/51% women/men. Also, 72% said Hugh Jackman was the most significant factor in prompting them to buy a ticket. But MovieTickets.com says that yesterday Wolverine trailed ticket sales for Transformers by 2-to-1 at the same point in the sales cycle.
THURSDAY PM: Well, with Internet piracy, swine flu, NBA and NHL playoffs, lousy reviews… what did you expect the weekend total for X-Men Origins: Wolverine to be? Interestingly, Twentieth Century Fox this week lowered its 3-day estimate from $80M to $75M for the Hugh Jackman starrer. (Could he have gotten his body any buffer? Even Jackman’s wife told the press she thought his 8-pack abs were “ridiculous”.) But rival studios still think it’s possible for Wolverine to do Iron Man-like $100+M numbers. Besides, the first weekend in May always proves lucky for the first summer blockbuster out of the gate. So probably the real figure lies somewhere inbetween, like $85M.
Then again, even fanboys are no longer expecting a big fat debut along the order of the 2006 threequel X-Men 3: The Last Stand‘s $102.7M, and predict it’ll be more like the 2003 sequel X-Men 2: United‘s $85.5M. (They cost $210+M and $110+M, respectively.) For those keeping score, X-Men opened to $54.4M back in 2000.
Meanwhile, Hollywood keeps underestimating the drawing power of what is now a string of “It’s Me, Not You” relationship pics from New Line /Warner Bros, mostly because they’re nauseating. This weekend’s counterprogramming of the Matthew McConaughey-Jennifer Garner starring Ghosts of Girlfriends Past should reach $18M and maybe even get to $20M if female moviegoers don’t get spooked by swine flu.
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I’ll take the over.
nah…. I say 70
*If* Wolverine’s b.o. numbers aren’t exciting, there’s nothing to blame but the movie itself – it’s not exciting, either. Plus, the leak was an inside job, so who’s the pirate in that scenario? Perhaps said insider wanted the studio to take a hard look at Wolverine and the reactions to the work print? Who knows. It will still open # 1 in all markets.
I watched it – in the movie theater – and in between action scenes spent time wondering why this flick simply doesn’t work. During one action sequence I also wondered why it didn’t work (bland). I got slightly bored.
Where’s the high concept? Where’s the strong motivation that drives every scene from beginning to end? For the most part, the other chars were far more interesting, had more fun powers than Wolverine, the “good brother”. Did you know that all it takes to stop two brothers from killing each other is to say – hey, we’re brothers!? OMG. Weak, weak story.
Taken, Gran Torino etc. were online in perfect DVD/Screener quality and still made excellent b.o. (remember those leaked “for your consideration” screeners of quite a number of Oscar contenders? Who were the pirates in that case? And whatever happened with that case?)
Maybe the fact that the film stinks also plays a role?
Not according to FOX, of course.
My guess is that it hits $80M.
$75m is surprisingly high for a movie that quite frankly looks like an all around dud and is following a largely hated franchise entry (X-men 3).
“Wolverine” is a terrible movie, little substance and depth and felt horribly rushed. Jackman, Schreiver, and Huston are terrific, but they deserved a much better script (and if the on-set conflicts between Gavin Hood and Fox were true, Hood deserves the blame).
For all of its studio interference, “X-Men 3″ was better. But like in X-Men 3, Taylor Kitsch was terrific as Gambit but only in 10-15 minutes of the movie like Ben Foster’s Angel.
“Wolverine” was a big disappointment. Avoid it if you can.
Saw this last night. Same your dimes. Awful dreck. Even for what should have been a ‘turn your brain off’ comic book flick.
It continues to amaze me how a conglomerate of talented people when working together towards a common goal can produce a soulless work devoid of any value.
It will still make a mint. But that’s because the LCD laps this kind of stuff up regardless of what the word of mouth is. The fall off on this will be tremendous.
If the sellouts last night and the response is any indication, despite the movie being probably the worst in the franchise, it’s going to do a lot above that. I hope not as I’m pulling for Trek, but I think X3 numbers are not out of line.
Boy, this is really a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for movie fans.
If Wolverine does well, then Tom Rothman will consider his excessively hands-on approach to the filmmaking process to be completely vindicated, and we’ll never see a decent TCF summer movie again.
If Wolverine does poorly, Rothman (and other studio heads) will declare an end to comic book movies and focus 100% of their time and money on adapting mediocre teen novels.
What a shame it would be if Ghost of Girlfriends Past made more than $22 at the box office. Jesus, it looks terrible in every single way a movie can be terrible.
My favorite moment of there entire ad campaign was when MM on Regis & Kelly and Kelly tried to act like the premise was the most original thing she’s ever heard.
She earned her entire paycheck in that one segment.
$76 million. The leak didn’t hurt it that much (only fanboys stole it, and they’ll pay to see it anyway), but swine flu will cost it $8-10 million. Unfortunately, it won’t get a second chance at those flu-phobic viewers next weekend, as “StarTrek” will be huge with legs.
Kevin, don’t knock a movie til you see it, please, idiot.
Saw Wolverine. Didn’t care for it but the theater was filled to the brim. Gotta change my expectation unfortuantely…. it’ll probably do $95.
If you have the patience though, check out Limits of Control. Kinda cool in a super trippy way.
Ghosts is a great script! Hopefully the public thinks the same. Although I’m not too sure about Michael Douglas playing a pimp, or McConahey for that matter.
H1N1 will keep some of the non fanboys away so I would go with lower estimates.
Hugh Jackman is a big star though and should be allowed to do other types of parts that are less “spandex”.
“If Wolverine does poorly, Rothman (and other studio heads) will declare an end to comic book movies and focus 100% of their time and money on adapting mediocre teen novels.”
What do you mean, other studio heads? Fox and Rothman are the only ones that should be worrying about how poorly they’re treating the comic-book fans and the general audience. And they’ve been on a downward spiral for almost a decade… they need a shakeup more than anything.
Pascal, Horn, and Maisel aren’t going to be worrying about the profitability of their Spidey, Batman and Iron Man franchises any time — we’ll still see superhero/comic book movies for at least five more years. And unlike Fox, most of their superhero films aren’t always about banging out a cheap buck.
Tom Rothman really needs a creative soul check or an intervention. Its not funny anymore. This guy gives movies a bad name. The slate coming out of the Fox hen will be judged as some of the most lamest movies ever produced. It’s literally gotten to the point where if I see a Fox logo in front of a trailer my eyes will just roll with prejudgement for the worst. There’s no doubt in my mind that he single-handedly drove the direction of Wolverine behind the scenes. There’s just no other way to explain the suckage.
It’ll make money in the long run because that’s what the common denominators want, just check your brain at the door fast food entertainment, ‘want your fries with your Wolverine?’ Fox has literally become the McDonalds of Hollywood. It’s all by the numbers. Hit your beats here, hit it there, keep it moving and then you’ll have a hit according to asshole douchebag Tom Rothman.
In reference to my earlier post. No one sets out to make a bad movie that’s why I can’t blame Gavin Hood or Hugh Jackman for coming out with such an empty product. This is just another long line of examples illustrating studio note driven dreck.
If Wolverine does hit those high numbers, I predict it’ll drop by a LARGE percentage the following weekend (60-70% drop, anyone?)
Who cares?
Kirk comes into town next week and kicks Logan’s adamantium ass all the way back to Canada.
Leland, let me tell you a secret:
You don’t always need to sit through an entire movie to know it’s going to be bad. I don’t eat dog shit because common sense tells me that it will taste like dog shit.
Ghost of Girlfriends Past is a bad movie. But judging by your rhetoric, I’m sure someone like you will enjoy the movie just fine.
Yes, seriously, why are you bashing a movie you haven’t even seen Kevin? The utter snarkiness in this town never ceases to amaze me.
And “P. Black” neither Michael Douglas or McConaughey plays a pimp.
Douglas is a playboy type, ala Bob Evans, and McConaughey a womanizing photographer.
It’s a really good movie, you should all go see it.
Saw Wolverine and it’s top notch 9/10 in my book. Stop crying you wussies, they got it done.
Next Thursday cannot come soon enough. Spock is about to drop some logic on a couple of mutants.
Kevin’s first post was hilarious and spot on.
Completely agree with Alboone & B Hebbessay.