Writethru Thursday AM follow 1st Update, Wednesday 11:31PM: STXfilms’ A Bad Moms Christmas is looking at a first day of $2.6M at 3,615 theaters, not too far from the $2.7M we saw late last night. CinemaScore audiences who turned up tonight gave the film a ‘B’ as opposed to the first installment’s ‘A’ which opened on a Friday in late July last year.

Sizing up the numbers, some distributors had A Bad Moms Christmas as high as $4M at 4 PM today, which would have put it on track for a $17M three-day and $24M weekend, however, Wednesday’s start at this point in time could put the Jon Lucas-Scott Moore feature at $11M over three days, $16M over 5-days. Still TBD. STXfilms was looking to build up steam heading into a weekend where Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok is poised to take $100M-$120M. A Bad Moms Christmas’ crowd – older females – plan their trips to the movies with friends. However, it’s not summer (the prime season for female R-rated comedies), it’s a work night, and it’s not Friday or Saturday yet. Rotten Tomatoes still hasn’t registered a rating yet for the sequel. The 2016 movie was critic proof at 58% rotten posting a $9.5M opening day and $23.8M weekend. That movie before P&A cost $20M and A Bad Moms Christmas cost a reported $28M.

The comps for R-rated female comedies opening on a Wednesday at this time of year are non-existent, and are rare overall. Warner Bros.’ R-rated Tammy opened on Wednesday drawing $6.2M, a $21.5M three-day and five-day of $33.3M. However, that was during the Independence Day stretch. New Line/Warner Bros.’ Vacation opened on a Wednesday, but alas at the end of July 2015, grossing $3.8M on its first day, $14.7M over three and $21M over five. It drew roughly a 50/50 split between men and women. The first Bad Moms drew 82% women and 48% over the age of 35.