Some theaters near me are starting previews at 4:30pm. Pretty soon previews will be all day Thursday.

There is one surprising review in the positive direction. Stephanie Zacharek, who has disliked all of Nolan's previous movies, apparently raved enough about it that the Time Magazine headline on her review is "masterpiece." Her review of Inception landed at 30 on MetaCritic.

http://time.com/4864051/dunkirk-review/?xid=homepage

Sales finally kicked out of neutral here, looking a bit better for tonight. Outpacing Apes almost 2:1 currently.

This selling more than Apes was expected no? Nolan has much rapid fanbase.

Beyond the Nolan fanbase, I expect walkups will be fairly strong, especially with the older demographic that don't buy tickets online.

Final predictions

Pre: $4.3M
Fri: $14.1/$18.4M
Sat: $17.8M +26.24%/-3.26%
Sun: $15.8M -11.24%

OW: $52.0M
2nd: $36.9M -29.04%
3rd: $24.1M -34.69%
4th: $15.7M -34.86%

DOM: $265M
INT: $370M
WW: $635M

A local VFW group just walked up and bought 30 tickets. This is getting interesting.

Final Predictions:

OW: $51M
Total: $240M

67/380/1.25b

48 opening, 130 total.

Maybe so. General audience reactions so far on various forums are nowhere near as strong as films like TDK, Inception, or even Interstellar. This includes the Nolan Fans forum where numerous people are expressing disappointment in the movie.

Critics are calling it impressionist and experimental. They might dig this sort of thing because it shows big balls, especially for such a large budget project. But I don't think it will play as well as some of his other big budget movies when it comes to actual ticket buyers.

I will gladly eat a ton of crow if I'm wrong.

Per BOM, it's outselling Interstellar on fandango. Fandango has been very shy on giving comparisons lately (probably due to the Atom/Regal deal), so this is a good sign.

Finishing less than Mad Max Fury Road?

Wow, that's one of the stupidest predictions in this forums in the 14 years of following box office. Unless audience hates the movie completely, this will not happen. #BoyBye #ChildBye #ByeFelicia

I don't think it will have great legs as people are expecting there is just no dialogue most of the movie and it has all the elements that critics would droll upon and mainstream audience might not always look to. A sub-$50m opening would mostly not be enough for this club.

I still have no idea how the opening weekend of this movie will go, but I'm staying conservative with 43/180. I'm thinking somewhat similar to Interstellar's run, but I'm not entirely sure.

If wom is as good as reviews it will probably make over 275. I'm thinking it will open over 55m.

Yeah I don't think so. Its needlessly confusing and no dialogue in almost entire movie won't help but its still DAMN GOOD of a movie that never takes a break in its short runtime. Think TDK of war movies

We're going with a preview projection of at least $5m.

The opening weekend is going to be a lot better than people are expecting. Not sure about the legs just yet but can't see it getting a sub 3.5 multiplier even if it's divisive.

Yeah an opening close to $50m will get it VERY close to or just above $200m.

You are awesome. Official number is $5.5 million.

I dont see it reaching 225m, i liked the film but its a 1 time see only film for me and wom at my showing was very mixed.

Do people think Saving Private Ryan was a movie that people went to see over and over again?

Not all legs are created in the same manner. A film does not need to be rewatchable to have strong legs. SPR was an intense, gory, overlong ww2 film. Not many people saw it twice. Its legs came from the fact that seemingly everybody saw it ONCE. It was something one simply had to experience.

I am not sure if Dunkirk will be in the same vain, but its worth noting.

I didn't attempt to rate this film after the first viewing because it was difficult to watch both in terms of the structure and the sheer intensity of everything. I have now seen it two more times and I feel comfortable saying this is a Top 3 Nolan movie for me.

Very good chance Dunkirk ends up remembered as his best movie decades from now. People compared Interstellar to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but Dunkirk deserves that comparison a lot more than Interstellar ever did.

Interstellar was only compared to 2001 due to sci-fi/realistic take on human evolution angle. Otherwise it was not a game changer though it was very strong thematically.