Watchmen has big first-day numbers

Zack Snyder's Watchmen epic pulled in an estimated $4.6 million in its midnight shows alone, hitting theatres across North America at 12:01 am Friday morning. That bested the $2.5 million that Snyder's last blockbuster, 300, earned with its midnight showings back in March 2007, but came up short for first-day tallies, as Watchmen made about $25 million on Friday, compared to 300's $28.1 million take. That gives Warner Brothers' Watchmen the third highest-grossing first-day total for an R-rated film, behind 300 and The Matrix Reloaded, which garnered $42.5 million in '03. Watchmen also opened in more theatres--3,611--than any other R-rated movie in history, some 500 more than 300, which went on to produce an accumulated $210 million at the domestic box office.

Watchmen, which is a superhero feature based on the 23-year-old 12-book DC graphic novel series penned by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is the first major blockbuster flick of the year, and is expected to rake in about $65 million in its first weekend, less than the $70.9 million total that 300 did two years ago. These numbers are more than good enough to give it the #1 spot at the box office this Sunday, bumping Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail from its two-week reign at the top.