January releases are here. Normally, the month is a dumping ground for films that studios have little faith in to become moneymakers. However, that is not to say that enjoyable films can’t come out in January. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was enjoyed by our Chris Bumbray in his review despite not being a big fan of the first film. Other critics have been giving the action heist sequel a lukewarm reception as the movie currently sports a fresh 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Deadline now reports that the Thursday previews for the Gerard Butler/O’shea Jackson Jr. film has taken in $1.35 million in early Thursday previews. Showtimes started yesterday at 6 pm and the appeal of the sequel doesn’t cast a notably wide net as an R-rated heist film. Additionally, Los Angeles, which is the largest market in the country, will affect the numbers as the city is currently in a state of emergency. Other places in the U.S. are also being hit with winter weather that discourages people from leaving home. The movie is projected to hit $11 million-$13 million at 3,008 theaters.

In his review, our EIC had a blast with the movie as he says, “I enjoyed Den of Thieves 2: Pantera much more than I thought I would. With the sunny European locales and international flavor, it’s the perfect mid-level January release and should prove popular enough among Butler’s fans that I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually get a third movie in the series. It’s surprisingly fun!”

And recently, the film’s star, Butler, revealed that he was coming off of surgery when filming the movie. “This was a weird time for me at the beginning of this movie because I’d been through a pretty intense surgery, and then I tore my ACL fully about a month later and then started this movie,” Butler said. “So I was not in the best shape, and it was a pretty physical movie, and I didn’t have a chance to get the surgery on my ACL, so I made this movie with a freshly torn ACL, and it was pretty rough.“

Butler continued, “But yeah… I wanted to put a ‘but’ in to make it sound positive, but it wasn’t positive; it was a nightmare! And I was a whiny little bitch!“

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