Shailene Woodley‘s The Fault in Our Stars lived up to the hype and then-some, earning a massive $48.2 million weekend, a total that includes $8.2m worth of Thursday sneaks and a $26.1m opening day. If you’re thinking that sounds like some pretty huge frontloading, you would be correct. The film fell around 50% from Friday to Saturday, bringing its weekend multiplier to a rather terrible 1.84x, one of the lowest on record. When I did potential comparisons yesterday and Friday, I thought it would be unfair to include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II($43m midnight/$92m Friday/$169m weekend) since it was so much more front-loaded than even theTwilight sequels or the Hunger Games chapters. Instead, that turned out to be the most accurate comparison. That will teach me to avoid hyperbole.

 

I’m seeing a lot of legitimate movie news sources saying this same thing. The media hype is saying one thing, but the numbers are saying something completely different. 

Interesting facts about how Hollywood tries to paint a rosy picture and front load opening weekends to give them a boost.