Doctor Sleep Opening Night Box Office Numbers Are Out

Doctor Sleep hit theaters last night and serves as an adaptation of Stephen King's book of the same name as well as being an "authentic sequel" to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, The Shining. The movie was directed by The Haunting of Hill House's Mike Flanagan and stars Ewan McGregor as the grown-up version of The Shining's child protagonist, Danny Torrance. According to Deadline, the movie's preview night earned $1.5 million at the box office on Thursday with showtimes that began at 6 pm. While this is less than the recent adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, which earned $2.3 million on its preview night earlier this year, the movie is doing better in terms of ratings.

Currently, Doctor Sleep has a 74% critics rating after 184 reviews and a 93% audience score after 908 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Not only is this better than Pet Sematary, which earned a 57% critics rating and a 34% audience score, but it also has IT CHAPTER TWO beat on ratings. The recent sequel earned a 63% critics score and a 78% audience score, which means Doctor Sleep is currently the King frontrunner of 2019 by a fair amount.

According to Deadline, Doctor Sleep is projected to earn $25-$30 million this weekend, which won't quite earn it back the $50 million it took to make before P&A. The site also points out that it's a "pure 4-day weekend" since Veteran's Day falls on Monday.

While the movie might not be earning its ideal numbers, it does have one important endorsement. Last month, King said the following in a special featurette for the film:

"This is a movie you should see," King proclaimed. "I'm proud to be a part of it."

In addition to Ewan McGregor, Doctor Sleep also stars Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible 5 & 6) as a predatory cult leader; Kyliegh Curran as girl with a power "shining"; Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek) as the girl's doctor; Zahn McClarnon (Westworld) as the cult leader's henchman; and Alex Essoe as Danny's mother, Wendy Torrance.

Do you plan to see Doctor Sleep this weekend? Tell us in the comments!

Doctor Sleep is now playing in theaters everywhere.