“The Hangover Part III” has arrived at the party a bit early.
In an increasingly common Hollywood trend of opening on Thursday instead of the traditional Friday, the final film in the franchise opened with late night shows on Wednesday before opening wide today, in anticipation of the long Memorial Day weekend. It debuted to $3.1 million at the domestical box office.
That’s significantly less than 2011’s “The Hangover Part II,” which grossed $10.4 million from late Thursday shows, but the discrepancy between the two films’ opening night takes could be simply because fewer people are willing to trek to the multiplex on a Wednesday night than on a Thursday night.
“Part III” will be put to the test over the long Memorial Weekend, with fellow newcomer “Fast & Furious 6” and “Epic ” both tracking very well. “Furious” opens late Thursday and is expected to to provide major competition against “Hangover.”
Then, of course, holdovers “Iron Man 3,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Star Trek In Darkness” are expected to continue to be strong performers.
“Hangover 3,” which reunites stars Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Ken Jeong for one last adventure, is receiving primarily negative reviews, which didn’t seem to hurt “Part 2” on its way to a global take of more than $586 million.