islandclaws

Early reports from Deadline:

THURSDAY 10:15 AM UPDATE: This Memorial Weekend started early for the 2011 Summer Movie Season with both Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures' The Hangover Part 2 and DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 2 distributed by Paramount screening Thursday midnight shows. Warner Bros is saying that Hangover Part 2, one of the most anticipated sequels of the summer, opened after midnight in 2,600 locations with $10.4 million. That's a big big number and sets the record for the highest grossing R-rated midnight show. (The previous record was Paranormal Activity's $6.3M.) But it's still on the low side of the $10M-$15M that rival studios were expecting. It sets an R-rated film record today by debuting in 3,615 theaters, which should translate into a big $20M for Thursday. With the first Hangover having made the weekend of June 5, the sequel is expected to reach $80M-$85M for the three-day weekend, and then as high as $125 million according to some rival studio estimates for the five-day-long weekend starting today. Warner Bros is projecting the five-day estimate at $100M. And that's for a 2D feature without the higher 3D ticket prices. One reason for the giant number is because 80% of colleges will be out Thursday and Friday. The only obstacle standing in this Bangkok-set sequel's way is whether it's too much like the original: it has only 33% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as of this morning.

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Last year over Memorial Day we got Sex & the City 2 and Prince of Persia, so this weekend should handily top that.

From what I've been reading Hangover II is a carbon copy of the first, just set in a different locale and featuring less laughs. But, like everyone else, I'll probably still end up seeing it at some point.

dcrw6

I haven't seen either of The Hangovers, mostly due to lack of opportunity, but I hope Kung Fu Panda trounces it. The first was a genuinely good movie and the early reviews say the sequel is a great one as well. Plus, I feel obligated to the series since my son loves it so much and served as a gateway film into him enjoying live-action Shaw Bros. style films, and he's only two years old.

islandclaws

You show a 2-year-old Shaw Bros. movies?

dcrw6

It's more like he sees me with them and he sits down to watch too when he usually shuns live action. If it's one of the really bloody ones, I'd turn it off or shoo him out. He also has no tolerance for modern-set kung fu movies, only ones set in the same rough era as Kung Fu Panda which I find funny.

Gerry P.

If your 2-year-old plucks your eyeball out, then it's your own damn fault.

Solid Snake

so I'm assuming he likes the costumes and look of the films? That'd make sense. Modern day apparel is rather boring compared to Shaolin monk garb.

RichC2

It's looking like both big opening films today are on track for their pre-release estimates. Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures' The Hangover Part 2 earned an "A-" CinemaScore and is heading for $30 million Thursday including $10.4M in midnight shows. That'll be its best-grossing day for this 5-day Memorial Weekend since 80% of colleges will be out Thursday and Friday. Hollywood is expecting a 3-day weekend of $80M-$85M and an extra-long 5-day Memorial holiday of $125M. DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 2 distributed by Paramount earned an "A" CinemaScore and is debuting Thursday with $6 million because only 10% of K-12 schools are out on Thursday and just 20% on Friday. The toon sequel should gross bigger each day with $45M-$50M expected for the 3-day weekend and $65M-$70M for the extra-long 5-day Memorial holiday. Internationally, Panda 2 opens in 10 markets day and date including Russia and Korea. Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides should hold with $40M for the 3-day weekend and $60M for the traditional 4-day Memorial holiday. Full analysis Friday.

islandclaws

That's pretty damn impressive.

Matthew Chmiel

It's interesting to note that Warner is one of those rare studios that can open an R-rated film without a problem.

Poor X-Men: First Class. I have a feeling it will tank next weekend. Even with poor critical reception, The Hangover: Part II will probably have a decent hold as I can't see it dropping more than 50% in weekend two. The same can be said for Kung Fu Panda 2 which I think will have a 40% drop (give or take) due to the surprising word of mouth that it's actually better than the first.

Hokeyboy

I think X-Men has a sporting chance: great advance buzz, established franchise, it's PG-13 instead of R, etc. With "less than stellar" WOM on both Pirates and Hangover, it (and KFP2) looks like the bright spot of the early summer.

dcrw6

I think that's definitely part of it since even when they're just standing there talking, he's into it. I also think that he sees the fighting as a form of dancing/playing. When he hears music, he starts running around the house jumping around the same way he does when he watched the movies.

Match

'Hangover 2' Rocks Thursday
http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3173&p=.htm

starman9000

I hope Galifianakis gets a cut of the gate, I'd love to see the crazy crap he would do with that kind of dough.

islandclaws

Funny, I keep thinking that about Green Lantern. I feel like this summer is inundated with superhero films, and those that are less well-known (like GL) might get completely overlooked by poeple who are already trying to keep up with every superhero film they DO know of.

Deftones

According to Todd Phillips, the 3 main guys all got paid the same. I doubt if they get any back-end on this. Maybe for the next one.

Also, with all the critical raves that X-Men is getting, I think it will be fine. Will it do $300 million? Probably not, but I could see it opening to about $80 million and coasting to about $200 million.

RichC2

Saw an article a few weeks back that stated Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper were each paid $5m to star in the Hangover 2. They were each paid roughly $300,000 to star in the first movie. Doesn't mention any backend participation.

fumanstan

Spoiler

RichC2

Ugggh... really?

...fine.

fumanstan

Sorry... I don't really care myself, but I haven't seen Hangover 2 and didn't know that -

Rypro 525

actually kimmel spoiled that one

gmanca

It was a major headline on Yahoo.com this week.

If First Class tanks it's on Fox because they rushed production just to see if they could make cash on a quickly made film, thereby doing Daredevil and Fantastic Four in the same model to retain the rights. They just finished the film, not allowing them to show trailers months before the release.

Ash Ketchum

The reviews I've read all mention it. I don't see how that could be considered a spoiler. But then I don't see how most things considered spoilers, outside of a surprise ending, would actually "spoil" anything.

RichC2

Spoilers vary person to person, some people like to get caught up in a story and others like to see how the ride itself is.

A lot of spoilers consist of characters dying during the course of the movie, drastic changes in personality, good guys were really bad guys, etc; and can occur at any time, it spoils the fun of the movie.

Casting spoilers aren't really spoilers, though.

fumanstan

Maybe it's just me, but I thought a lot of movies this summer didn't get trailers out until the last couple months. I've been seeing a ton of X-Men commercials the last couple weeks though.

gmanca

Well, of the bigger films from this summer, most had a trailer released last year, Super 8, Thor, Pirates, Green Lantern, Transformers, Cowboys And Aliens, and Harry Potter. Only Captain America and X-Men had their debut trailers released in February.