Thursday Night Previews: The Last Jedi Earns Second-Best Previews with $45 million - Updated with Ferdinand
December 15, 2017
We expect Star Wars: The Last Jedi to have an opening weekend box office total almost exactly in the middle of The Force Awakens and Rogue One. Since those two films earned $57 million and $29 million respectively during their previews, The Last Jedi would need $43 million to be on target. According to Disney it pulled in $45 million last night, making it the second-best Thursday preview of all time. (The Force Awakens is number one, while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II was pushed into third place with $43.5 million.) That’s not a lot above where we needed it, but does make $210 million for the weekend more likely. Additionally, the reviews remain impressive at 93% positive, while the average score given by the critics so far is 8.2 out of 10. There were some grumblings that the audiences were less impressed; however, this appears to be internet buzz and not reflective of the real world. We don’t have the full ComScore grade yet, but they reported 90% positive results last night, as well as 82% in the “Definitely recommend” category. That’s simply fantastic. We will have a better picture by this time tomorrow when the Friday estimates arrive and we can compare legs with the previous two Star Wars films.
Ferdinand pulled in just $350,000 in 2,385 theaters during its previews. The film wasn’t expected to really compete with Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the box office, and this is doubly so when it came to the previews. Movies aimed at younger audiences can’t sell as many midnight shows, because their target audience is in bed well before that. However, this is below expectations. There’s not a lot of films to compare it to. Sing earned $1.7 million, but it opened the week after Rogue One. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip opened the same weekend as The Force Awakens, but it didn’t have previews. Perhaps the films good reviews will help it survive over the weekend, but I think we will be lowering expectations this time tomorrow when the Friday estimates come out.
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi Comparisons
- Ferdinand Comparisons
Filed under: Midnight Previews, Ferdinand, Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars