Christmas Day moviegoers showed Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” plenty of affection as the 70 mm roadshow launched with $1.9 million at 100 venues in 44 U.S. markets.

The opening day projects to an impressive $5 million for the weekend — or around $50,000 per screen — for what’s the largest 70 mm release in the last 20 years.

That number will be the best by far for an opening in that range in the past five years, according to Rentrak. The previous high in the category was 2011’s “Kevin Hart: Laugh at Me,” which opened with $1.9 million at 98 locations.

The Weinstein Co. announced on Dec. 14 that it moved up “The Hateful Eight’s” wide release in the U.S. to New Year’s Day — a week earlier than previously planned — with the aim of taking advantage of strong buzz. The Western carries a 75% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Hateful Eight” stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern.

Tarantino’s eighth movie follows a bounty hunter (played by Russell) traveling with a prisoner (Leigh) to post-Civil War Wyoming. That pair and six other strangers seek refuge in a stopover on a mountain pass during a blizzard.