Theater Counts (updated): Logan Opens in 4,071 Locations, Moonlight Cashes In

March 2, 2017

Oscar season is over, and it’s time for Hollywood to start rolling out its pre-Summer/Easter/Spring Break blockbusters. First out the gate is Logan, which debuts in 4,071 theaters, per Fox’s Thursday lunchtime announcement. That makes it the 4th-widest release in the month of March (see full list here), behind the likes of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Hunger Games, and Monsters vs. Aliens, all of which opened on the last weekend of the month. That’s a big show of confidence from the studio.

Logan’s huge rollout should give it an easy weekend victory, but it will be a challenge to keep at number one for longer than a week, since Kong: Skull Island will be debuting in about 3,800 venues next week, according to Warner Bros.. Final theater counts are often a bit higher than the estimates, so there’s a plausible chance that we’ll have two 4,000-plus-theaters openers to start the month. And Beauty and the Beast will most likely make it three in a row the following week if that happens.

Two other films open wide this weekend. The Shack is set to start out in 2,888 locations, and Before I Fall will play in 2,346. Also opening in nearly-wide-release is Table 19, which Fox Searchlight is showing some faith in by booking it in 868 theaters. There isn’t a huge amount of comedy out there right now, so that could prove to be good counter-programming.

Finally, Oscar Best Picture winner Moonlight gets a big bump, expanding from 585 to 1,564 theaters. That’s the widest the movie has played, and gives it a chance to progress further up the list of leggiest movies in history.

List updated 2.30pm, Thursday with Sony counts.

Updated Friday 7.30pm with A24 counts.

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Theater Counts