In a bit of a surprising turn of events, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark actually scared up some solid business in Thursday night previews.
Scary Stories grossed $2.3 million in Thursday night previews at 2,500 locations that began at 7 PM. I’m going to apologize a bit to the film because in my predictions I did note that the RT score had not dropped yet and that the reviews from “Variety” & “The Hollywood Reporter” made it seem like we were getting a stinker but as I write this, Scary Stories is fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 82%. I may have underestimated what this film could do this weekend because it seemed like momentum had fallen off but I think the source material, which has scared young children since the 80s, may be the big draw here.
The best comparison for Scary Stories is the Goosebumps movie from 2015, which actually started much lower in Thursday previews with $600,000. The key difference is that Goosebumps opened in October when kids typically aren’t out of school to catch Thursday night previews but it took that number to a $23.6 million opening. If Scary Stories doesn’t prove to be extremely frontloaded, there is a slight possibility that it could threaten Hobbs & Shaw for the number one spot. This race will definitely be one to watch.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold also got started in Thursday night previews with an impressive $1.25 million from showtimes that started at 4 PM. This film is aimed squarely at young kids so the preview number won’t be the whole story. The brand is strong and it’s possible the film over indexes as the weekend plays out. Dora’s Thursday night preview is right on par with the 7 PM shows of Disney’s Big Hero 6 ($1.25 million back on November 6, 2014, which translated into a $56.2 million opening — not expected her for Dora) and is higher than the $1.2 million of Fox’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children ($9 million opening day, $28.8 million opening). Dora could hit that mark or a little lower over the weekend.
The Art of Racing in the Rain scored $450,000 from 7 PM previews last night. The preview number may suggest that dog fatigue is setting in because the preview number is below the $535,000 5 OM preview made by A Dog’s Way Home & is just under the $455,000 made by A Dog’s Purpose. That being said, it is higher than the $250,000 made by its sequel A Dog’s Journey back in May. Some think the faith-based crowd may show up for this one so it will be another one to watch as the weekend plays out.
The Kitchen also had previews that began at 7 PM but they weren’t as wide as normal for a preview night. The numbers have not been released as of this writing.
