"X Men 3: The Last Stand" took in almost $45 million on Friday and landed in the history books. It is now the second highest opener of all time, right behind "Star Wars: Attack of the Sith."
Insiders are predicting that the Brett Ratner directed third episode in the X Men trilogy could do as much as $150 million over the four day Memorial Day weekend. Word of mouth and "tracking" are so strong that "X Men 3," with no real rivals, should shatter all kinds of records by time the numbers are in officially on Tuesday.
For Ratner, whose successes have included two "Rush Hour" movies and "Hannibal," the X Men blast off is quite a success story. He narrowly escaped making "Superman Returns" instead, a movie that is now being billed as the most expensive ever made, and could have a lot of problems.
"X Men 3" was not cheap to make. With a ticket of $225 million, it also sets a record as maybe second most expensive ever. But with a first weekend like this, 20th Century Fox should see a nice return before too long.
