Will 'Beauty and the Beast' Be 2017's Biggest Movie?
by EG
It's more than a week until the opening of Disney's live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, but there's already talk of the movie contending for the top slot for the entire year in terms of ticket sales. Pre-release sales for the film have been stellar, leading to speculation that the spring release might be one of the highest-grossing movies of the year.
Ticket seller Fandango reports that pre-sales for Beauty are outpacing those of last year's second- and third-place movies, Finding Dory and Captain America: Civil War. Finding Dory took in $135 million in its opening weekend, and Civil War earned $179 million. Early tracking of Beauty suggested that it would earn about $110 million in its first weekend, but more optimistic predictions this week are suggesting that it could bring in more than $150 million.
If Beauty manages to beat Civil War's opening, it will become the biggest March opening of all time, ahead of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's $166 million last year.
Beauty faces some formidable competition, though, if it wants to contend for the top spot for the entire year. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 debuts in May, and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi hits theaters in December. Both of those movies are expected to be bigger hits than Beauty.