‘Prometheus’ earns $3.6 million at midnight screenings

June 9, 2012 | Filed under: Movies | Posted by:

This article originally appeared on Entertainmentweekly 

Ridley Scott’s big return to sci-fi, entered theaters last night with built-in excitement from the fanboy (and girl!) community — and that’s apparent from the box office.

According to Fox, the kinda-sorta-maybe Alien prequel earned $3.6 million from 1,368 theaters at midnight screenings. About $1 million of that came from 294 IMAX shows.

For reference, Snow White and the Huntsman, which opened to$56.2 million last weekend, started with $1.5 million at midnight. Immortals, the last R-rated thriller with substantial midnight showings, started with $1.4 million on its way to $32.2 million over three days. Inception, which targeted the same cinephile sci-fi crowd as Prometheus, earned $3 million at midnight and $62.8 million in its summer 2010 debut.

Because Prometheus does have a perceived connection to another franchise, there may be a little bit of sequel-effect front loading going on here, but it looks like the $130 million thriller is headed for an opening in the $50-60 million range. I predicted $56 million yesterday. Thus, unless Madagascar 3 roars louder than expected (and, to be clear, there’s a good chance that it will), the film has a good shot at winning the weekend.