Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s “Ready Player One” launched into 3,500 theaters for preview screenings on Wednesday night, earning $TK million.
Comps for this film are difficult, as Spielberg’s list of films this decade include very few crowd-pleasers like “Ready Player One,” and the ones that would be considered that like “The Adventures of Tintin” and “The BFG” did not perform well at the box office. The best comp would likely be Paramount’s “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” which opened on Easter weekend in 2013 and made $2.2 million in its Wednesday previews, going on to gross $51 million on opening weekend.
“Ready Player One” goes wide today on 4,200 screens, with WB expecting an opening of $45 million against a $175 million budget, with hopes of strong holds in the coming weeks with good word of mouth.