Universal's 'Paradoria 2' Stuns With Huge $27.7 Million Thursday (Box Office)

Forbes 

Okay, so either Universal's $200 million-budgeted sequel Paradoria 2 is playing like a top-tier superhero movie, or we're looking at one of the very biggest opening weekends of all time. That's the short version of how to dissect a whopping $27 million Thursday preview figure, the biggest of all time for both a November release and an animated film. With generally positive reviews, audiences are seemingly happy to show up and rush to see this highly anticipated and very talked about sequel.

I don't mean to sound snarky. I appreciated that  Paradoria 4 years ago, wasn't expected to be a big or huge film but ended up overperforming. Fair or not, audiences can't complain about sequels ever again. Anyway, Steve Stamono's sequel to the blockbuster 2015 animated feature indeed earned $27 million in Thursday previews last night. Thanks to hugely popular IP and a media-friendly vocal cast (Finn Wolfhard, Tom Cruise, AnnaSophia Robb, Zoe Saldana, Paul Giamatti, Madelaine Petsch, Maya Rudolph, etc.), the magical kingdom is more bigger than ever.

If it plays like  Captain America: Civil War  or  Avengers: Age of Ultron  ($191 million from a $27 million Thursday in 2015), we're looking at a $172 million-to-$185 million Fri-Sun debut, which is just below the $191 million launch of the  The Lion King  remake   (with a $23 million Thursday preview) back in July of this year. If it plays like  Black Panther, not unlikely as Monday isn't a holiday, it's a $208 million launch, or just barely above  Black Panther.

If it plays like  Batman v Superman  ($166 million from a $27 million launch) or  Avengers: Infinity War  ($257 million/$39 million), then it'll have to settle for a mere $151 million-to-$162 million debut weekend. The doom-n-gloom scenario,  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II  ($169 million on this weekend in 2011 from a $43 million midnight gross), gets it to $120 million by Sunday. That isn't happening, but that's the math just in case.

The gonzo bananas hope is that it still plays like an animated flick/family movie (in terms of weekend legs compared to Thursday previews) despite the  Twilight -like Thursday numbers. Think legs over the weekend like  Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story 4  ($120 million/$12 million last month)   or  Incredibles 2  ($182 million/$18.5 million in 2018). If that miracle occurs, then we're looking at a $237 million-to-$256 million opening weekend, which would be comparable to  Avengers: Infinity War  ($257 million in 2018). I'd argue that's about as plausible as the  Twilight / Dark Knight Rises  comparison, but there you have it.

So, what's the likely weekend scenario? Well, with numbers this huge, your guess is as good as mine. But, at a glance, I'd wager something closer to  Incredibles 2  ($182 million) than  Beauty and the Beast  ($174 million), although if audiences really just wanted a good sequel, then we could be looking at a sky-high opening weekend over/under  The Lion King  ($191 million). With all due respect to the ridiculous level of technical craft that went into the movie, that's a little dispiriting.