Maybe, and not saying I won’t see it. But this report of a big opening is a lie.
Too many people are posting pics of absolutely EMPTY theaters where this is showing, no lines, etc.
My guess is the $ amount is entirely concocted from foreign sales using rebates and buy backs, and in America is generated through “tying clauses” that force theaters to take this if they want “Avengers.” (All, of course, illegal).
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $153,433,423 33.6%
+ Foreign: $303,285,175 66.4%
I tend to agree that the weekend take is inflated. We went to the movies Saturday night, butn ot for Captain “You Look Mahvelous”. Thinking back, the place wasn’t mobbed. Since the theater is all reserved seating, there’s no advantage to standing in line for an hour to get “good seats”. You can walk in 5 minutes into the previews and you know where you are sitting. Even so, the concession lines didn’t seem long either.
The most telling sight for me, though, was in parking on Saturday night. We pulled into the garage at about 7:15, and it was only half-full. With this “blockbuster” playing at 6 of 16 screens, plus a local film festival occupying 2 more and a kiddie movie or two, I would have expected to be lucky to find a spot on the roof. Nope, found parking on the bottom level of the garage, and there were others nearby. Even the pizza place across the street from the theater wasn’t that crowded. Not even a typical Saturday night there!
Just for grins and giggles, I just checked the first after 6PM showings today at the theater, including a 3D XD, a regular XD, and a regular showing. In each case, about 10% of the house was sold out. Granted, it’s a weekday, but if the fanboys and fangirls were really geeking out over this movie, I’d expect the pre-sale house to be larger than that!