Lee Daniels’ “The Butler” opened tonight and exploded at the box office and on Twitter. The Forest Whitaker-Oprah Winfrey all star tale will be number 1 for the weekend coming in at between $27-$30 million. It’s possible it may go higher based on reaction on Twitter.
Starting around 9:30pm Friday night thousands of people who saw the early shows in their neighborhoods starting Tweeting about much how they loved the movie. Country superstar Reba McEntire was one of them. (She lives in Nashville.)
Just saw the movie, The Butler. Go see it!!
— Reba McEntire (@reba) August 16, 2013
There are also several Tweets from people who say the audience applauded at the end of the film. That’s a good sign that tomorrow’s shows are going to be HUGE. The irony is that “Kiss Ass 2” was supposed to beat “The Butler.” But it’s winding up at number 2.
Stay tuned and keep refreshing… I told you about “The Butler” a couple of weeks ago. Mark this down on August 16th: “The Butler” will score Oscar nods for Daniels, screenwriter Danny Strong, Whitaker, Winfrey, and David Oyelowo at least, as well as Best Picture.