Audiences went on the prom date from hell on Thursday, handing the remake of “Carrie” $725,000 in late night showings, according to studio estimates.
It’s a solid start for a horror film that faces stiff competition from critical and commercial hits like “Gravity” and “Captain Phillips,” although given that those films skew older, “Carrie” should have the teenage crowd to itself.
Sony, which is distributing the MGM/Screengems film, thinks it will open to between $18 million and $20 million, while analysts predict it could be do for a $25 million debut.
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Two other films are opening in wide release this weekend, the Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger prison break film “Escape Plan” and the WikiLeaks drama “The Fifth Estate. A smattering of awards bait pictures like “12 Years a Slave” and “All Is Lost” will have limited debuts.
“Escape Plan” will be lucky to hit $10 million over the weekend and “The Fifth Estate” will content itself with half that amount, analysts predict.
The remake of Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror classic is based on a Stephen King book about a shy girl with telekinetic powers and an ill-considered prank involving pigs’ blood. It stars Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore.
Critics didn’t see the point of revisiting the story, handing the film a humdrum 45 percent “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Todd Cunningham contributed to this report.