March 6, 2009–Zack Snyder's “Watchmen” grossed $4.6 million in Thursday midnight screening, more than double the midnight figure for his prrevious film “300.”
“Watchmen” is Snyder's first directorial outing since “300.” The innovative comic-book actioner played at more than 1,595 midnight run across the country. All of the 124 Imax midnight runs were sold out. The exhibitors then added 3 a.m. shows. According to Imax, much of the weekend is sold out. “Watchmen” opens today in 3,611 theaters, the widest theater count ever for an R-rated film.
“300” grossed $70.9 million in its opening weekend in March 2006 and had a Thursday midnight gross of $2.5 million. “Watchmen” will beat that weekend number despite its lengthy running time of 162 minutes.
Fandango recently reported that 92% of its tickets sales were for “Watchmen.”
The movie is the first major day-and-date release of 2009. Paramount is Warners and Legendary Pictures' partner on the film, and is handling it overseas. Fox will get a cut of the film's grosses as part of its much publicized legal settlement with Warner.
