‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ Makes Box Office Noise With Franchise-Best $6.8 Million in Thursday Previews

Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” has set a new Thursday preview record for its franchise, earning $6.8 million.

The spinoff of the 2018 horror film from director John Krasinski and its 2021 sequel is currently estimated for an opening weekend in the $40 million range, but after this start and strong early reception has a chance to top the $50 million opening weekend of the first “Quiet Place.”

The first “Quiet Place” earned $4.3 million in Thursday previews, while “A Quiet Place — Part II,” which opened Memorial Day weekend 2021 during the early stages of post-shutdown reopenings for theaters, earned $4.8 million in previews.

Critics have praised Lupita Nyong’o and the film’s cast for maintaining the character-driven nature of the series, as well as Michael Sarnoski for his direction. The film currently has an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Elsewhere, Warner Bros.’ “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” earned $800,000 in Thursday previews. This was to be expected as Kevin Costner’s western epic is catering to an older, male core audience that does not regularly show up for Thursday preview screenings.

Warner Bros. is only handling distribution on the $100 million “Horizon,” which Costner has partly self-financed himself. The film is projected for a $10-12 million opening as it hopes to leg out among Costner’s devoted fanbase and audiences in rural states. Critics were tepid on the film, giving it a 41% Rotten Tomatoes score.

But it is likely that Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” will continue to be No. 1 with the spectacular holds that it has been showing over the past two weeks, earning $101 million in its second weekend for the lowest percentage drop ever for a film with an opening of more than $150 million. Today, the film will pass the $857 million global total of its 2015 predecessor and will hit $1 billion worldwide sometime around July 4.

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