
*According to Deadline, Universal’s “Ride Along 2” is off to a great start for the MLK Jr. holiday weekend.
Thursday night it took in $1.26M at 2,381 theaters, an improvement on the $1.06M Thursday previews generated by the first film.
“Ride Along” is the second highest opener of the MLK weekend holiday with a $41.5M three-day take and a $48.6M four-day. Deadline sources believe that Ride Along 2 could beat those figures with a four-day weekend of $50M. Showtimes kicked off at 7PM yesterday.
The entertainment industry outlet also says Rentrak’s PostTrak, which polls moviegoers continually throughout a film’s opening weekend, reports that “Ride Along 2” drew mostly men at 54%, just under 25 at 49%. Eight percent of the crowd rated “Ride Along 2” excellent or very good (vs. “Ride Along‘s” 83%), with 72% saying it met their expectations. As far as word of mouth is concerned, 56% of the “Ride Along 2” crowd said they would definitely recommend the Kevin Hart-Ice Cube comedy sequel to a friend, while 85% know at least five people who are going to see the movie.
Here’s how last night’s audience broke down: African Americans (37%), Hispanic (26%), Caucasian (26%), and Asian (11%).