'Oz The Great And Powerful' Opens To Big $2 Million Midnights; Matinees Ahead Of 'Lorax'; Tracking Huge $80+M Weekend Debut

FRIDAY 8:40 AM, 2ND UPDATE: Here is another update for you. Disney's Oz The Great And Powerful is on its way to a big opening with $2 million in midnights, according to my sources. I'm hearing the fantasy family fare is having 'great' early matinees ahead of Universal's hit toon Lorax. The $200M-costing Oz is projected for a $80+M weekend and by far would be the biggest domestic film debut of what has been a disappointing 2013 start for Hollywood pics. The Sam Raimi-directed prequel to the classic Wizard Of Oz story made 60% of its post-midnight money in 3D and 40% in 2D. By contrast, Disney's 2010 blockbluster Alice In Wonderland did $3.9M in midnights ' but it also was one of Hollywood's first 3D megapics back then.

EXCLUSIVE MONDAY, MARCH 4: After this past weekend's Jack The Giant Slayer bombed for Warner Bros, Wall Street is understandably nervous about another movie costing $200 million and opening the very next Friday. But the business media morons who keep writing headlines like 'Oz The Great And Powerful Could Be Disney's Next John Carter Flop' need to get a clue. Granted, tracking is less and less an accurate indicator of actual theatrical performance. But my insiders including rival studios are now projecting a sweet $80+ million first weekend for this March tentpole. (Whereas John Carter, which also cost $200M, only opened to $30.1M and made just $73M domestically all-in.) That opening by far would be the biggest domestic film debut of what has been a disappointing 2013 start for Hollywood pics. It also cements director Sam Raimi as the real deal when it comes to helming box office blockbusters. (After steering the original Spider-Man trilogy from 2002 through 2007, he has made mostly small and modest movies until this budget buster starring Spidey frenemy James Franco.) After months of bad buzz behind the film, Disney now is confident Oz was a risk worth taking ' but is taking no chances either.

The studio has ensured its TV ads for Oz are omnipresent as part of a $100M marketing spend and mirror the colorful chaos of those for its 2010 Alice In Wonderland mega-hit. Oz also is releasing on the same weekend Alice did. That Tim Burton pic offered one of the first truly rich 3D experiences and scored a $116 million domestic debut and went on to earn $1 billion worldwide, making 2/3s of its money overseas. indeed international grosses for this weekend's wizards and witches will be key ' and I must warn that the Land Of Oz is not the globally familiar place in literature Wonderland was and still is. As for Oz opening domestically, 'I think it will have an '8' in front of it,' an insider tells me. 'We had a lot of media this weekend.'  Not only is Oz produced by Alice In Wonderland's Joe Roth, but it also used the same visual effects pro and production designer Robert Stromberg, who recently noted that 'Tim was going for a darker film, and Sam was going for a brighter film. That's the biggest difference.' Disney is playing the pic in traditional 2D, as well as Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D formats. Development spanned no less than 3 Disney studio chiefs - Dick Cook, Rich Ross, and now Alan Horn. The script, written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire, is inspired by L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and also the prequel to the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz. The story takes place 25 years before Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow or the Tin Man were there. Instead this tale tells how the Wizard got to the Land Of Oz. Since the 1950s, Disney has owned the rights to Baum's 13 Oz sequels. If tracking is accurate and international is big, then this is a new Disney franchise spinning off not just films but mucho merchandising and park attractions for years to come.

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.

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