Caffeinated Clint
Proving critics really don’t know it all (well, maybe one or two of us do), “Terminator Salvation” made over $13 million bucks on Thursday – that’s my mortgage paid forty times over!
It’s no record, but still an indication that there’s definite interest still out there for the “Terminator” brand.
The first-day “Terminator Salvation” take included about $3 million from midnight showings. Its Thursday take represents 54% of the opening day gross for (another piss-weak blockbuster) “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which launched a year ago on the same Thursday and wound up the Memorial Day weekend with $152 million.
The film, which is receiving a Robyn Givens-like battering from the critics, is likely to walk away with $60 million, and first place, this weekend. Over the next 5 days, it’s projected to do over $70 M. By contrast, 2003’s passable but largely underwhelming “Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines” pocketed $44 million on it’s opening weekend; though we’re not taking inflation into consideration, in which case that figured would probably get a bit of a bump up. (In some respects, I hope “Salvation” doesn’t ultimately make more green than “Machines” – it’d remind the studio that Schwarzenegger really is a vital part of this franchise).
“Terminator Salvation” is yet to open in international markets (it’s still a fortnight away from it’s Australian release, for instance, where many will no doubt flock to it for the added value of seeing “Terminator 5” plans (I’m betting Ferris and Brancato aren’t invited back for the next sequel – fuck, I hope they’re not).
“Terminator” faces stiff competition this weekend in the form of Ben Stiller’s “Night at the Museum” weekend, though Fox themselves have even admitted “Salvation” will likely be the victor.
