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MIDDAY UPDATE: Warner Bros.’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is eyeing a $38M first day at this point in time, which includes previews, on its way to a $90M-$95M opening. There is a path to $40M-plus today and $100M-plus for the weekend, however, that all hinges on the continued momentum of walk-up business.
The only movie to deliver a first day north of $40M, and an opening between $90M-$99M is 2017’s The Fate of the Furious which posted a first day of $45.6M and 3-day of $98.7M.
As solid as last night’s previews were for the Michael Keaton-Jenna Ortega-Winona Ryder-Catherine O’Hara movie, the first night of NFL football with the Kansas City Chiefs win and the whole Taylor Swift appearance of it all certainly kept cash out of Warner coffers, but the anticipation is that ground will be recovered.
Anything north of $91M and less than $123.4M makes Beetlejuice Beetlejuice the second highest opening for September, still worth Warners bragging about. The Tim Burton directed sequel is booked in 4,575 venues. Note there are few female skewing PG-13 franchise sequels to comp to for the month of September, however, the latest figures are reminiscent of Disney’s live-action feature take of another 1980s feature, The Little Mermaid from last year (Friday was $38.1M, 3-day was $95.5M).
Second place got to Disney/Marvel’s seventh weekend of Deadpool & Wolverine with $1.8M today, $6.7M for the weekend, -57%, at 1,800 for a running total of $613.5M.
Showbiz Direct’s Reagan, which finished the week with $13.3M, third among the competition, but was No. 1 yesterday with $845K, is eyeing $1.35M in its second Friday for a $4.7M second frame, -39% for a ten-day of $18M.
20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus at 2,560 is eyeing a fourth Friday of $1.1M, fourth weekend of $4M, -57%, in fourth for a running total of $97.2M. The movie is currently the second highest grossing in the Ridley Scott produced franchise stateside after Prometheus ($126.4M).
Sony’s It Ends With Us booked at 2,850 sites has a fifth Friday of $1.1M as well, 3-day of $3.7M and running total by Sunday of $141.3M.
A24’s horror movie The Front Room, which is 48% Rotten with Rotten Tomatoes critics, is fizzling with $500K at 2,095 venues for an estimated $1.15M opening weekend. Yikes.
UPDATED AFTER EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is officially reporting $13M for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. High exits scores from fans last night at 4 1/2 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak and 5 stars from both parents and kids under 12. Currently, the projection for the sequel is $90M — with potential for upside.
Females made a date with the Michael Keaton-Jenna Ortega-Winona Ryder sequel at 59% with 73% being over 25. Girls also outnumbered boys, 62% to 38% among the kids. A very strong turnout by Latino and Hispanic moviegoers last night at 36%.
RelishMix says that the social media reach for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is 41% ahead of action comedy sci-fi genre norms with 508.6M followers across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined.
“Jenna Ortega has throttled 103.1M Instagram views to her 38.2M fans, supported by Monica Bellucci with 6.2M fans, Michael Keaton at 1.58M and Willem Dafoe at 155K,” adds the social media analytics firm.
They also add, “Convo for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice runs positive with viewers highlighting how unique and special this film feels, a rare accomplishment for a sequel. Fans include new viewers excited to see star Jenna Ortega in a new horror film, saying, ‘First I thought this was the Wednesday Season 2, then I thought it was another Scream movie. Ortega’s films have a certain vibe, but I LOVE it,’ to longtime lovers of the 1988 original saying, ‘My inner child from the 80’s is screaming! I’ve never been more excited for a movie than this one!’ People have noted their appreciation for the practical effects and craftsmanship on display, sharing, ‘I appreciate the practical effects and the attempts to make it look like the old movie!!'”
There’s guaranteed to be plenty of fan dress-up at theaters this weekend.
Some of the clever exhibitor tie-ins include Bob from the movie, working at Cinemark:
There’s also a ton of collectible concessions. To rival the Sandworm and Wolverine popcorn buckets, there’s a Beetlejuice jack-in-the-box popcorn bucket at Cinemark.
EXCLUSIVE: The long-awaited sequel to the Tim Burton-directed, Michael Keaton starring movie has racked up some $12M in both Wednesday and Thursday night previews; a very good number.
While apples to oranges in terms of when the preview cash was made, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s pre- Friday dough is not far from the $13.5M racked up by 2017’s It, which went on to hold the opening record for September at $123.4M, and it’s ahead of the $10.5M previews made by It: Chapter Two in 2019 which holds the second highest opening for September with $91M.
Tonight’s figures are according to sources.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice previews are currently in line with Dune: Part Two‘s $12M, which included $4.5M from an Imax preshow program. That Denis Villeneuve directed movie went on to open to $82.5M. Here’s the difference: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice skews very female, while Dune: Part Two leaned mostly males at 65%. Interestingly enough, the sequel’s preview B.O. is ahead of Wonder Woman‘s $11M preview cash. In addition, expect the Latino and Hispanic audience to overindex on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. We’re hearing by tomorrow morning the Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara movie is bound to come in higher than what we’re seeing now.
Wednesday fan previews played in Dolby, Imax and other formats at 1,000 locations while Thursday previews starting at 3 p.m.
Rotten Tomatoes critics score for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stands at 78% certified fresh while the audience score is at 87%. The original 1988 movie on RT is 82% both with critics and crowds. Burton hasn’t made a lot of sequels during his career, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice being the second after 1992’s Batman Returns.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stateside has the widest release this year at 4,500 theaters including premium formats Imax, ScreenX, 4DX, Dolby, Dbox and PLFs.
We’ll have more updates as they come.
