Watchmen sets pre-release record for venues

As frenzied predictions for Watchmen’s first weekend pour in ($50 million? $70 million, on par with 300? $100 million?!?), the movie already set one record before it opened. At 3,611 theaters, it will play at the most venues ever for an R-rated movie.

Warner Bros. reports that 124 of those venues are IMAX theaters, which tend to help inflate a movie’s first-weekend numbers. In order to claim the best first weekend ever for an R-rated movie, Watchmen would have to climb beyond the $91.8 million The Matrix Reloaded grossed in May 2003, which even the movie’s partisans acknowledge is unlikely.

But possible! In truth, despite good signs going into the weekend, it’s exceedingly difficult to pin exactly where Watchmen will fall because early buzz (though pervasive) has proved to be mixed and its viability as a brand name hasn’t been tested in theaters before. Studio estimates for Friday will be available by Saturday morning, but it’s a safe bet the blogs will get their hands on midnight and matinee numbers by Friday evening.

Related links:
Review: Watchmen
Features: Catching Up With... Watchmen illustrator Dave Gibbons
News: Watchmen director's cut will arrive in July