UPDATE: The Batman earns $57 million on its Friday launch

UPDATE: After scoring $21.6 million in Thursday night previews, The Batman soared to $57 million on Friday, an improvement on early estimates which had it coming in a tad lower. The great news is that the film scored an “A-” CinemaScore from opening night audiences which shows that word of mouth is leaning in a very positive direction. It’s looking like a $120 million opening weekend as of now but we will have to see how Saturday figures turn out. Look out for the full box office report tomorrow!

ORIGINAL STORY:

The Batman began its mighty box office journey last night in previews and it is off to a truly heroic start.

The Batman actually got things started off early with a special one showtime-only preview on Tuesday and Wednesday, largely on IMAX screens. Those figures came in at $3.7 million and the Thursday preview numbers registered $17.9 million from 3,300 locations beginning after 3:00 PM. That means preview numbers stand at $21.6 million coming into the weekend which will see the film expand to 4,217 locations today.

For comparison’s sake, The Batman Thursday preview numbers are ahead of such DC fare as Justice League ($13 million, $93.8 million opening) and Wonder Woman ($11 million, $103.2 million opening), but below The Dark Knight ($18.5 million, $158.4 million opening), The Dark Knight Rises ($30.6 million, $160.8 million opening), and Batman v Superman ($27.7 million, $166 million opening). I throw in those opening weekend figures because The Batman could fall anywhere between these numbers during its opening weekend depending on word of mouth and if the runtime turns some moviegoers off. At this point, it seems like Batman fans are flocking to the film and it’s in store for a healthy opening weekend that could exceed box office tracking. For those of you keeping score, I predicted an opening weekend of $125 million so we will see how my predictions stack up when the final figures are tallied.

Per Deadline, Warner Bros. reported that The Batman had already seen $50 million in pre-sales heading into the weekend and they’re seeing that the film, so far, isn’t frontloaded. Strong ticket sales are expected, not just today, but on Saturday as well.

What are YOUR thoughts on the preview numbers for The Batman?