‘Blade Runner 2049’ Pacing Faster In Advance Ticket Sales Than ‘Gravity’ & ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’

Fandango reports that Alcon/Sony/Warner Bros’ Blade Runner 2049 is significantly outselling previous October top grossers The Martian and Gravity, as well as Mad Max: Fury Road at the same point in their Fandango advance ticket sales cycles.

Tickets for Blade Runner 2049 have literlly been on sale for a week, and industry estimates have its stateside start in the low- to mid-$40 millions. We’ll see if that projection rises after today as the review embargo lifts. Currently the sequel’s Rotten Tomatoes score from roughly 30 reviews stands at 97% fresh.

Variety’s Peter DeBruge is already calling Blade Runner 2049 “A Spectacle for the Ages. Blade Runner 2049 ranks as one of the great science-fiction films of all-time”.

Gravity and The Martian, aside from both being sci-fi films, are also respectively October’s two best openings of the year with $55.7M and $54.3M. It would be sweet if Blade Runner could fly to that echelon, and Warner Bros has proven to beat tracking before during the week prior to a pic’s opening with Kong: Skull Island, Wonder Women, Dunkirk and, of course, It. 

Should Blade Runner 2049 land in the mid $40Ms over its first three days, it’s a start on par with Mad Max Fury Road, another reboot of a cult sci-fi ’80s movie. That George Miller movie opened to $45.4M and ended at $154M domestic, and $378.9M worldwide. However, Blade Runner 2049 is quite expensive at $180M, with Alcon going 50-50 with Sony on the production cost. Warner Bros gets a distribution fee per their deal with Alcon.

Also working in Blade Runner 2049‘s favor in terms of leg power is awards season. First, the movie has awards pedigree in director Denis Villeneuve, whose Arrival last year was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture (and winning for Sound Editing). In addition, Gravity, The Martian and Mad Max: Fury Road all had huge footprints in their respective Oscar seasons.

With a Fandango advance ticket purchase, they’re giving away Funko Pop collectibles of the cast.