The Departed is going to be the #1 film this weekend — easily over $20 million, and maybe into the mid 20s — but the general opinion is that the bulk of the under-25 audience is going to to patronize Employee of the Month and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning instead. They’re under the impression that The Departed is too complex, too adult, too dark-heavy, and they’d rather just have fun. Is this is a generation that truly gets what’s happening and is plugged into the current vitality or what?
It looks as if The Departed — which had a 73% general awareness, a 51% definite interest and a 25% first choice among currently-playing films in a report out this morning — is going to be the biggest opening-week earner of director Martin Scorsese‘s career. The biggest overall U.S. grossers so far are The Aviator ($102,593,534), Gangs of New York ($$77,679,638) and Cape Fear ($79,100,000).
With Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson toplining, Employee of the Month (83, 35, 12) will come in second. Figure the mid teens. Texas Chainsaw Masscare (90, 29, 14) will do between $10 and $12 million. The two biggest 10.13 openers appear to be The Grudge 2 and Barry Levinson‘s Man of the Year. Of the 10.20 openers, Flags of Our Fathers seems to be doing better than The Prestige and Marie Antoinette at this stage, but it’s a little too early to tell about that weekend.