Many people thought “midnight,” “IMAX,” and “Tron: Legacy” were words that went well together.
The reviews have been generally bad, but “Tron: Legacy” was able to drum up enough excitement to bring in big crowds to its midnight screenings. The many years later sequel earned $3.6 million from 2000 theaters; last year in the same opening slot, “Avatar” earned $3.5 million. Should we take this to mean that “Tron: Legacy” will go on to the same box office success as “Avatar?” Umm….no.
Apparently many people decided that if they were going to trek out at midnight to see the video game inspired movie, they were going to do it right–IMAX ticket sales accounted for 29% of the total grosses, coming to $1 million from 228 IMAX locations, and it could have been bigger; apparently some IMAX locations in the southeast weren’t able to open due to snow. Still, “Tron: Legacy” did better with its midnight IMAX showings than “Inception,” “Iron Man 2,” and “Avatar.”
The Hollywood Reporter says that industry folks are predicting “Tron: Legacy” will finish the weekend with over $40 million. There’s not a lot of competition for first place–the only other new movie is “How Do You Know” which actually got worse reviews than “ton.” But will it hang on, or quickly fizzle? Are there enough people with an attachment to the original movie to make it a hit no matter what? Is it good enough for people who do not have an attachment
