EXCLUSIVE: Sources tell us tonight that the John Wick spinoff, Ballerina, is looking to do around $3.5M-$4M in previews.
Ballerina‘s all-in preview cash is on par with the Thursday preview box office of Furiosa ($3.5M) and it’s higher than the $2.4M Tuesday night preview cash of Alita: Battle Angel.
Essentially, the thinking is to comp Ballerina to female solo action movies instead of John Wick movies.
Female solo action movies are a completely different subgenre and don’t always attract the full-on male audience which typically attends a male leading star action movie.
Still, Ballerina‘s combined preview cash is higher than the Thursday night of John Wick 2 ($2.2M), but far under both John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ($5.9M) and John Wick: Chapter 4 ($8.9M, best preview cash in franchise).
EXCLUSIVE: According to sources tonight, Ballerina, the John Wick spinoff, is hoping to gross between $3 and $5 million in previews. This covers everything, including the Thursday showtimes that started at 6 PM and the Wednesday fan screenings that started at 7 PM.
It is hoped that the $80 million to $90 million Lionsgate production will bring in more than $30 million, which, as we previously mentioned, is roughly where recent female solo action films such as Furiosa ($26.3M 3-day) and 2019’s Alita: Battle Angel ($28.5M 3-day) have opened at the box office.
The Len Wiseman-directed, Thunder Road-produced spinoff is predicted to come in second place to Disney’s Lilo and Stitch, which is expected to earn about $35 million on its third weekend, surpassing $300 million today.
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Ballerina’s further photography was postponed for a year.
The positive aspect of Ballerina is that Thursday night viewers are enjoying the Keanu Reeves cameo film Ana de Armas, which has a 94 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. As of right now, this score is higher than any John Wick RT popcorn score, with John Wick: Chapter 4 scoring 93 percent. Ballerina’s Rotten Tomatoes rating of 72 percent certified fresh isn’t as high as that of the John Wick films, which received ratings ranging from 86 to 94 percent certified fresh.
Ballerina’s total preview revenue is higher than Alita: Battle Angel’s $2.4M Tuesday night preview revenue and comparable to the Thursday preview box office of Furiosa ($3.5M). The idea behind Ballerina is essentially to compare her to female solo action films rather than John Wick films. The full-on male audience that usually attends a male leading star action film is not always drawn to female solo action films, which are a totally different subgenre.
The total preview money for Ballerina is still more than the Thursday night of John Wick 2 ($2.2M), but it is still far less than that of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ($5.9M) and John Wick: Chapter 4 ($8.9M, the franchise’s highest preview cash).
More information will be available as it becomes available tomorrow morning. A request for comment was not answered by Lionsgate.
