Box Office: 'Hustlers' Scores $2.5M in Thursday Previews

The female-fronted revenge drama is tracking for a $25 million-plus bow.


Hustlers has started its box office run with a solid $2.5 million in Thursday night previews ahead of going nationwide on 3,250 screens.


STX, which produced the movie for $20 million, is eyeing a weekend bow in the mid-$20 million range, with experts expecting an opening weekend that could be well over $25 million.


Female-fronted STX feature Bad Moms took in $2 million in previews before heading into its 2016 opening weekend of $23 million, unadjusted, while R-rated title Girls Trip pulled in $1.7 million on the Thursday ahead of its massive $31 million bow.


Hustlers is based on real-life events chronicled in a 2015 New York magazinestory and stars Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez as strippers that lead a band of female dancers in a plot to drug and steal from their Wall Street clientele in Recession-era New York City.


Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo and Cardi B also star in the movie from writer-director Lorene Scafaria, which earned rave reviews out of its TIFF debut.


Also opening this weekend is Warner Bros. The Goldfinch, the adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that stars Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman and Sarah Paulson. The movie is tracking for a disappointing opening in the $7 million to $12 million range over 2,542 screens.