Box Office Preview: The Passion of the Christ By Reagen Sulewski
This finally brings us to the Wednesday opening, which has come all the way up to 3,006 venues, a very wide slate by any measurement. The fact that there are over 4,600 prints is also important, something that indicates that the film is getting significant multiplex play. Naturally there will be a heavy first day demand as with any film. The way this demand is going to play out over the first five days is going to be very interesting, as many of the bought-out showings are for Sundays, which could shift the normal movie going patterns wildly. Right now, I'm predicting approximately an $11 million opening Wednesday, with a steep drop-off to $4 million on Thursday. I then predict a follow-through of around $35 million on the weekend, though what shape that may take is still in question. The Passion of the Christ promises to be one of the more interesting releases of the year, in sociological, cinematic and business senses. Stay tuned for more updates through the week.