Also of note is that the Wednesday figure is up from $34.1 to $34.4 with the official numbers....

http://boxofficeguru.com/121903.htm

Following its mammoth opening day, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King collected another $17,019,987 on Thursday, according to official figures released by New Line Cinema, to bring its two-day haul to $51,470,821. The drop of 50.6% from the first day was understandable when compared to Wednesday-to-Thursday declines for the previous films in the trilogy. The Fellowship of the Ring fell 45% in its second day while The Two Towers dropped 47%. King enjoyed a much stronger opening day so the slightly larger decline seemed in line with expectations as seeing the films on opening day has become a priority for a growing number of people each year. King's $17M Thursday was up a healthy 22% from the $13.9M that Towers claimed in its first Thursday.

With more upfront demand, The Return of the King continues to perform at a somewhat more accelerated pace than the previous films. Fellowship entered its opening Friday morning with $27.9M in the bank representing 37% of its eventual five-day gross of $75.1M. Towers had banked $40M in its first two days accounting for 39% of its five-day bow of $102M. At a slightly quicker pace, The Return of the King still looks to find itself with a towering total of $120-130M by the end of the weekend.

Wow. I wonder if it really could make it to $400 million...I predicted $375.

It has a very good shot at $400 Million domestic. And, with strong repeat business and some award show legs, I could see it squeaking past $450M. Using TTT numbers as a measure of comparison (a better comparison than FOTR as TTT showed the faster start), a final domestic BO of $439 is not unreasonable. We'll have a more accurate gauge once the weekend numbers roll in.

It will top $100M in just 4 days. TTT took five, FOTR took 8. These are some amazing numbers.

I'll tell ya, I very rarely go back and pay to see a movie in theatres a second time. With this one, I actually am leaning towards seeing it again. That proves to me how great this movie truly is.

I think it'll hit the high 300's for domestic total.

Box office mojo is reporting it made $22+ million Friday alone -- more than many films do in a single weekend! $73 million in just three days -- The record pace continues!

Wow, I would've thought it would've been more for Friday. Maybe like $28-$30 million.

Right on.

Box Office Mojo has a nice page comparing the daily numbers of the three films here: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/vs-lotr.htm

So far the three films have very similar paces, although the overall numbers increase with each film.

1 N The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King NL $73,600,000 - 3,703 - $19,875 $125,071,000 $94 / - 1

Wow, $125mil already.

that is awesome

I usually watch it once in theaters and i watch it a couple of times through a downloaded version.. with this one I have already seen it three times in theaters and plan on going a few more times before the end of the year.

wow - Jack is becoming a moviegoer instead of a downloader!