LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part got off to a fine start in Thursday night previews, despite the fact that its target audience hasn’t even begun to be available to see the film.
LEGO Movie 2 grossed $1.5 million in Thursday night previews, an impressive number considering it was on a night when there aren’t any K-12 schools out (0% per ComScore and only 1% colleges off). The showings started at 4 PM, and when including the film’s early January 26 previews, the all-in pre-opening figure for the sequel is $2.1 million. Comparing previews to other LEGO movies: The LEGO Batman Movie earned $2.2 million from 3,500 locations that started at 5 PM. That repped 15% of its $14.4 million opening day before surging to $23 million on Saturday for a $53 million three-day total and a No. 1 win against Univeral’s Fifty Shades Darker ($46.6 million) and Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter Two ($30.4 million). The first LEGO Movie in February 2014 made $425,000 after 10 PM Thursday night previews and went on to make $69 million in its first weekend.
Also coming in strong is What Men Want, with $1.25 million in Thursday night previews. For comparison’s sake, That’s slightly under the $1.35 million made by Universal’s Kevin Hart-Tiffany Haddish comedy Night School and ahead of The Upside ($1.1 million) and Uncle Drew ($1.1 million). Night School opened to $27 million so it’s possible that What Men Want could surge that high, despite the poor reviews (45% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes). It’s likely that that the appeal of Taraji P. Henson may make this one critic-proof.
Cold Pursuit also got started on Thursday night with $540,000 in previews from 2050 theaters starting at 7 PM. That’s lower than the Liam Neeson’s The Commuter a year ago, which earned $700,000 ($13.7 million opening), but higher than his March 2015 release Run All Night ($455,000 Thursday, $11 million opening). Cold Pursuit, which is well-reviewed with an 80% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, could land somewhere in the vicinity of those films this weekend.
Lastly, The Prodigy scared up $350,000 in Thursday night previews. The performance is on par with films such as 2015’s The Lazarus Effect ($350,000 preview, $10.2 million opening) and DreamWorks’ R-rated Fright Night ($ 350,000, $7.7 million opening); it’s also slightly above BH Tilt’s The Belko Experiment ($325,000 preview, $4.1 million opening). The Prodigy should land somewhere in that range and is likely to surge a bit on Friday night but the rest of the weekend will have to rely on word of mouth.
