‘Beauty and the Beast’ Waltzes Into Theaters With $16.3 Million at Thursday Box Office
Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” earned $16.3 million at the Thursday box office, ahead of what analysts are predicting will be a monster opening weekend for the remake.
The live-action musical opens in 4,210 theaters in the United States and Canada this Friday, including Premium Large Format and 3D locations.
Disney anticipates an opening weekend of $120 million for the film, and interest has only gone up in recent weeks given clever marketing and generally solid reviews which now stand at 68 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
In response, an Alabama theater decided to pull the film, and it received an age restriction in Russia, which passed a law in 2013 banning so-called gay “propaganda.”
In Malaysia, where censors sought to cut the gay scene, Disney decided to pull the film altogether.