It appears the fine folks over at Fox are predicting a decent opening for the latest comic book type picture to grace our screens, confidently predicting an opening around the $60 – 65 million range. I suppose that would be attainable, though Fandango is actually predicting a higher total, with their estimate arriving at a cool $75 million.
I actually don’t really see it playing out quite that way. The buzz machine is in full effect on this film and they’re doing a good job of marketing it so far. My only hesitations lie in a few things. I still don’t think Hugh Jackman is a standalone draw, even though he’s been a lead in quite a few films. The thing is, I think he want’s to bring a depth to this film that just isn’t really there.
Who knows though, the numbers are looking strong for them right out of the gate. But, for my money, I think this film lost the only real potential to be ground breaking it ever had when Darren Aronofsky bailed on it. Apparently Mr. Jackman really pushed for ‘Knight And Day’ director James Mangold to helm this picture. If it flops on release or dies in the second week, I’ll pin that on Mr. Mangold’s head.
All I can say is, Mangold is pretty solid when the material is there, pretty crap otherwise. I actually worked on ‘Knight And Day’ and, well, that movie sucked.
I’ll predict a $45 million dollar open for the ‘Wolverine’, but am otherwise not expecting much in terms of performance. Let’s see how well my prediction streak lasts.
See the full story at: Box Office Mojo.
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