Ridley Scott’s "R" rated science fiction blockbuster Prometheus earned $3.56 million at midnight shows on Thursday, which should give it a bit of a head start on Madagascar 3, the all-ages animated film that many analysts are predicting to win the weekend box office crown.  While Prometheus’ midnight takes pales in comparison to The Avengers massive $18.7 million, it did considerably better than Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, which earned a mere $550,000 at its midnight showings (see "'Dark Shadows' Earns $550K at Midnight Shows").

 

Analysts are expecting that Prometheus will earn between $35 and $55 million this weekend, while estimates for Madagascar 3 range from $35 million all the way up to $70 million.  A dearth of other films targeting Madagascar’s youthful demographic should help the Dreamworks animated movie, along with the fact that there hasn’t been a similar animated kids movie in theaters in weeks creating a bit of pent-up demand.

 

Critics appear to like both Prometheus (73% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and Madagascar 3 (75% positive), and box office analysts are predicting that the new movie one-two punch will push the total of the top 12 films to over $150 million for the weekend.

 

Both Prometheus and Madagascar 3 have benefited from strong, well-conceived marketing campaigns involving lots of targeted TV ads. In addition to principal actors in Prometheus including Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender have been making the rounds of TV talk shows, and the New York Times ran a special feature on the elegant design of Ridley Scott’s outer space epic.  Check back here Sunday afternoon to find out how the two movies fared in their box office battle.