The Great Gatsby was never going to have an opening as huge as Iron Man 3's, or really any movie with a superhero and a lot of explosions, but its box office so far has managed to be surprisingly strong for a film based on a 90-year-old book. Early estimates at Deadline say that Gatsby managed to make $3.2 million from midnight and Thursday night screenings-- again, nowhere near Iron Man 3's $15 million, but it outpaced other movies with mostly female audiences like both Sex and the City films.
Optimistic estimates say Gatsby could make as much as $50 million this weekend, and maybe even give Iron Man 3 a run for the #1 spot this weekend. The studio, for its part, is predicting just $35 million, which would be by far Luhrmann's biggest opening yet (Australia, by comparison, topped out at $49 million in the United States total). Even though Gatsby is getting mixed reviews, a lot of the moviegoers polled say they're drawn in by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z's contribution to the soundtrack, or some combination of the two. As of 5 pm on Thursday the movie made up 67% of ticket sales-- even with Iron Man 3 still out there sucking up a ton of oxygen.
For more on The Great Gatsby you can check out our analysis of the 3D, a debate on whether or not Leonardo DiCaprio is right for the lead role, a rundown of the biggest differences between the book and the movie, and an entire podcast review. We'll also have a full box office report to you on Sunday!
