The opening weekend box office results for "Watchmen" are in, and after months of genius marketing, palpable fan anticipation and a week of pre-release record breaking, director Zack Snyder homage to the "unfilmable" best-selling graphic novel is a certified success -- despite clocking in with lower-than-desired numbers.
"Watchmen" took home the crown as the #1 movie in America this weekend with a blockbuster Friday wide-release. Early projections of a three-day total of $55.7M (an average of $15,413 per venue) were correct, making "Watchmen" the year's most successful domestic opening to date. The film also fared well on the international market with a solid $27.5 million overseas, bringing its overall worldwide gross to $83.2M during its debut weekend.
While it's clear that an opening take of $55.7M is nothing to sneeze at, as mentioned, most industry analysts (and obviously Warner Bros. execs) were expecting bigger numbers from its first frame, hoping for at least a $60M weekend, if not giving the reigning March opening weekend record holder, "300" ($70.9M), a run for its money. As it stands, "Watchmen" currently holds the third spot overall, and most analysts are blaming that on the film's long runtime and hard R-rating for its unabashed adult subject matter.
Yet -- as we here at Splash Page speculated over the weekend -- with the buzz around "Watchmen" still humming right along on message boards and social networking sites, it will be interesting to see how well the film fares in the coming weeks as those who couldn't squeeze into a weekend show begin to make their way to the multiplex in the coming days.
Are you someone who hasn't seen "Watchmen" yet, but are planning to go sometime during the coming week? Have you already seen the film but are planning on going again?
Related Posts:
- Before They Were ‘Watchmen’: The Characters That Inspired Nite Owl & Rorschach
- Kurt Loder’s ‘Watchmen’ Review: ‘Hollywood Finally Does Right By Alan Moore’
- EXCLUSIVE: ‘Watchmen’ Director Explains His Favorite Additions & Subtractions From The Comic Book
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