Vacation Starts Off Its Box Office Run With Average $1.2 Million At Tuesday Night Screenings

Tomorrow, I'll be doing my weekly box office predictions where I'll be taking a look at how Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Vacation will do over the forthcoming weekend. I'll have more data at my disposal for Vacation than Ethan Hunts newest film, simply because the Griswalds started their trip early with a Wednesday opening. That means the film had advanced screenings on Tuesday instead of Thursday, which grossed $1.2 million. That gross will be put into its opening day (Wedensday) gross.


That number is so-so, with it coming in behind numerous other R-rated comedies from 2015. Get Hard (which, like Vacation, was distributed) made $1.8 million at Thursday night screenings, while Spy made $1.5 million from Thursday night showings. Now, those took place on a Thursday instead of Vacations Tuesday, but interestingly, the movie Vacation has most been aping in its marketing (We're the Millers) gives off a perfect comparison to Vacation since it also opened on a Wednesday. Two years ago, We're The Millers made $1.7 million at Tuesday night showings, a number Vacation came in behind by 30%.

If Vacation played exactly like Millers over the next four days, it would make $27 million over its first five days. Normally, I'd say that with a smaller Tuesday night haul compared to Millers, Vacation will likely be less front-loaded, but considering Vacation is tied to an existing and very well known franchise, it may have burnt off what little demand it had last night. Kind of surprising to see numbers come in lower than expectations at this point, so I'm understandably very interested to see how this one plays out over the weekend.