X-Men: Days of Future Past opened back in May to somewhat disappointing numbers, but it's now nearly the highest grossing film in the franchise, and 20th Century Fox is doing all they can to get it there.
MoviePilot picked up the story that over Labor Day weekend, Fox dramatically increased the number of theaters playing Future Past, from 188 theaters for the week of August 22, to 794 for Labor Day weekend.
This plan to expand Future Class at the very end of its theatrical run is apparently working. According to MoviePilot, the movie made $233.5 million from Labor Day weekend into the following week.
This brings the movie up to a total domestic gross of $233,666,000. These numbers are pretty surprising considering the movie's disappointing opening weekend of $90 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Now, the movie is just $696,463 away from topping X-Men: The Last Stand for the spot of highest grossing film in the franchise. Being able to promote Future Class as the No. 1 film in the franchise is a big deal for 20th Century Fox, especially with the next film, Apocalpyse, already in the works, as we previously reported.
It's not clear how long the studio plans on keeping Future Class in theaters, but according to CinemaBlend, it will be playing in only 312 theaters this weekend, a drop of 482 from the previous week.
Will 20th Century Fox be able to push X-Men: Days of Future Past over the top, or will they fall short?
image courtesy of INFphoto.com