According to BoxOfficeMojo, SERENITY pulled in just about $4,000,000 on Friday, a further $3,500,000 on Saturday, and a projected $2,500,000 today. This totals a weekend estimate of ten million dollars, far short of the fifteen million that was hoped.
Having said that, it is the most successful new movie this weekend (beating Jessica Alba’s INTO THE BLUE).
It remains to be seen how happy studio executives will be with these figures, but bearing in mind that they are heavily estimated, the final numbers could change considerably either way. Opening to almost unanimous critical praise (yes, it would seem RottenTomatoes got their act together and painted a more positive picture), fans hope that positive word of mouth will contribute to a strong overall run in American theatres.
Serenity certainly doesn’t appear to be in any danger of not making a profit, the only question is whether or not this profit will be strong enough to warrant a sequel, or (preferably in my mind) another television run.