I’ve been watching the gross estimates rise all day on director Luc Besson’s Lucy, which is great news for its star Scarlett Johansson and for Universal Pictures which is distributing. As of 6 PM PST, the sci-fi actioner is on course to bring in a $15M to $17M Friday (which includes the 2.746M late night gross last night) for a revised estimate of anywhere between $37M and $42M. It’s playing in 3,173 locales.
Scarlett definitely gets cast in roles that seem to rely on a lack of emotion, but that doesn't mean she isn't acting and isn't capable of anything else. She is gorgeous (#2 on the Maxim's Hot 100 for 2014), but she's also a great actress (she's given the best performances of her career so far this year with Her and Under the Skin).
8th UPDATE, 9:40 PM and 10:34 PM: Lucy is having a ball (okay, I know that’s lame), but Universal Pictures certainly is. How high can she rise? Right now, all bets are on that the Scarlett Johansson sci-fi actioner should kick in over $42M for the three-day weekend for director Luc Besson — maybe even as high as $44M. The picture has enjoyed a very good Friday with about $15.4M (and that includes the almost $2.8M it grossed Thursday night).
