Really hoping new comers bomb/disappoint & BP stays #1 with 18-20m

Pacific Rim 2 reminds me of The Huntsman Winters War.

If PRU doesn't top the weekend then Sherlock Gnomes probably will. BP isn't getting past 18 this weekend.

Curious to see how Apostle does this weekend. I Can Only Imagine has surely dampened its prospects, yet Apostle has a very strong 225K FB likes.

It will probably do Risen numbers. Not a breakout but not a flop.

I am very surprised PR2 isn't getting destroyed by critics. When I started seeing those comparisons to IDR I thought it would be doomed, but the reviews have been decent so far. It still won't help its OW in any significant way though, because the hype just isn't there, but I could see some people who were on the fence before probably giving it a chance now.

What about Midnight Sun? Could that open to 9-10?

That would have been enough interest to likely get it to Risen territory (though probably a bit less since the theater count is smaller), but just because those people liked it doesn't mean they'll go see it now that they have a different movie they're probably more interested in. Without ICOI it would have done fine.

I wonder if Unsane is going to have a relatively small "wide" release. In the 800 to 1,200 range. It is not opening at several of my area theatres.

Seems so. Tracking services are only in the $3m range, which would be historically low for a Soderbergh release.

I checked earlier and it was at over 1,300 on MovieFone so it should be around 1,500-1,600 at least.

Pre-sales looking surprisingly decent for Pacific Rim Uprising. Just entered the top 5 at MovieTickets with 7.2%.

I'm really over it. If PRU doesn't do it then it should be Gnomes who does it. One of them should get past $18m mark which is already a great 30% drop with direct competition from PRU. Also that reflects really poorly on this already pathetic March

Strange - we've sold a total of 5 IMAX Pacific Rim 2 tonight but the 2D shows are actually looking very solid. It's like people want to see it, just not overpay to do so.

Apostle looking to be poorly reviewed. There may be no resurrecting it with an embraced Christian film already in the market.

Son of God had worse reviews and opened to ~$26m

Yeah but the competition around Son of God wasn't as big and recent with another movie having A+ cinemascore targeting the same audience.

Same thing observed here and I did the same. I wanted to watch it in IMAX but it was too expensive of an investment specially with the reviews there wasn't a need to spend so much.

MT:

1. Pacific Rim: Uprising 15.5%
2. I Can Only Imagine 13.8%
3. Black Panther 10.6%
4. Avengers: Infinity War 8.5%
5. A Wrinkle in Time 7%

Pacific Rim: Uprising will open to $25m or more based on MT sales tracking.

Sherlock Gnomes and Paul, Apostle of Christ not holding Thursday previews is not a good sign for either.

Gnomes and Paul not entering the MT list is also not a good sign. Gnomes can still surprise but Paul looks like it won't do much over the weekend specially with ICOI expanding and posting big numbers.

Sherlock didn't have Thursday shows so it's not really cause for alarm yet.

I agree it can still do well but with some schools still out it could have entered MT by now. 7% isn't a big target to achieve. I don't feel that it will break out to $20m now.

I agree, Sherlock is likely looking at sub-$20m. I'm sticking with $6-7m for Apostle and that's because of Sony. Additionally, Caviezel has a respectably modest following. if this was a Pure Flix or lower-tier studio release, I'd be thinking $4m or less.

Apostle is definitely going to flop (though not financially). There are no signs for a breakout.