Mutiny's real test was never its Friday. It is the number that arrives Sunday night. The Jason Statham thriller opened fourth with $2.88 million from 2,703 theaters, the soft landing this paper described yesterday, and pre-release tracking had already priced the entire debut around $7.4 million. [1]

Second weekends sort stars from schedules. Spider-Man: Brand New Day, in its fourth frame, is projected to retake the weekend crown at roughly $36.5 to $39 million after Insidious: Out of the Further stole Friday with $10.68 million. [2] Variety had framed the same contest before a single ticket sold: a fourth straight Brand New Day win, Insidious aiming near $25 million, Mutiny an also-ran. [3] The Odyssey holds third around $19.5 million. [2]

For Mutiny the arithmetic is unforgiving. Reaching that tracking figure requires about 2.6 times its Friday across three days — $7.4 million divided by $2.88 million — before Sunday's matinees close. [1][2] Director Jean-François Richet's thriller carries Statham's reliable older-male audience, the demographic that holds rather than rushes. [1] The watch item is whether word of mouth keeps it near $7 million or lets it slide toward $5 million, where Lionsgate starts counting a franchise-less summer bet as sunk cost. A quiet open can still build legs; an empty one cannot. Saturday's per-theater averages will say which conversation Lionsgate spends the week having.

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles