'Paper Towns' Leads Thursday Previews with $2m, 'Pixels' Builds Up $1.5m, 'Southpaw' Hits with $1.2m

     'Paper Towns' had the highest-grossing Thursday night debut yesterday, leading with $2.0 million. That is a pretty impressive number; however, if it plays like the Fault in Our Stars, it will wind up with an opening of just below $12 million. My prediction is a bit more generous than that, as I am expecting an opening north of $16 million.
     'Pixels' came in with a $1.5 million Thursday preview gross. That is a decent opening considering its price-tag ($90m). It will most likely end up like Edge of Tomorrow, which was another pricey sci-fi flick carrying big star power that opened against a John Green adaptation. That would put it at a so-so $24 million opening, which seems likely at this point (an atrocious 20% from critics and a lackluster 59% rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes).
     The last new w-
ide release opening this weekend is 'Southpaw', which debuted to a solid $1.2 million last night. It probably won't play like last October's 'Nightcrawler' (a weekend-to-preview ratio of 20.19-to-1), and if it does it would heavily over perform with around $24 million. Instead, a weekend in the range of $10-15 million seems likely.