Bullet Train, a Sony film, received a solid $4.6 million in Thursday previews. It started screening at 3,596 cinemas around the country at 3 p.m., and is likely to be the last tentpole of the summer movie season. It'll reach around 4,300 cinemas by Friday.
Brad Pitt and an exciting cast that includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael Shannon, Sandra Bullock, and Bad Bunny, are expected to make $30 million in its opening weekend. However, Leonardo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino, and Margot Robbie both contributed to the film's success.
After working as a stunt double back in the day, Leitch began a film career as a filmmaker with the first John Wick ($86 million worldwide), followed by the back-to-back films Deadpool 2 (which grossed $785 million worldwide and featured Pitt in a memorable comeback) and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw ($760 million).
Pitt plays an assassin who confronts a group of mercenaries about a bullet train in Japan in the film, which is based on a novel by Kotaro Isaka. He'll next be seen in director Damien Chazelle's period drama Babylon.
Top Gun: Maverick ($1.3 billion worldwide) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($954 million worldwide), as well as original (or original-adjacent) films like The Lost City ($190 million worldwide), Elvis ($237 million worldwide), Nope ($80 million domestic, and counting) and Everything Everywhere All at Once ($100 million worldwide).
The comedy film Easter Sunday, which is expected to gross between $5 and $7 million, and A24s Bodies Bodies Bodies are also coming to theaters this week.