The action in “Gravity,” Alfonso Cuaron’s thrilling new adventure film, unfolds in the vastness of outer space, so it’s no surprise that IMAX is proving to be one of the most popular options for seeing it on the big screen.
“Gravity” opened to a respectable $1.4 million in Thursday night and midnight showings, with $420,000 of that figure coming from 323 IMAX theaters, the company said.
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That’s not as big as some of the numbers IMAX has previously put up — the big screen format accounted for $3.3 million of the $13.5 million “Star Trek Into Darkness”s’ sneak showings brought in last May, for instance. Although, that film opened in the heart of the summer and had a huge brand name behind it.
It’s the percentage, in this case, that’s notable: Just under a third of “Gravity’s” audience sought out the premium format.
IMAX stock, which had a bruising week, closed up 4 percent at $27. The company’s shares plunged more than 10 percent over the past five days amid analsyts’ concerns that the coming crop of IMAX releases would be weaker box offer performers than had been expected.
The film is rolling out in more than 30 overseas markets this weekend, and has begun to put up some impressive figures from abroad. The movie has so far scored a combined $3.8 million in foreign markets.
In Russia, the movie opened to $1.2 million, with 3D screenings accounting for 76 percent of the box office and IMAX accounting for 15 percent.
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In Italy the film opened to $230,000; it debuted to $925,000 in Germany; and it kicked off with $651,000 in Australia.
Domestically, “Gravity” is expected to make as much as $40 million.