'Gatsby' Is Already Doing Great At The Box Office Despite Harsh Reviews

the great gatsby leonardo dicaprio

Who cares what the critics think.

Despite harsh reviews, "The Great Gatsby" is already killing it at theaters.

Midnight showings scored $3.3 million at the box office last night.

While that's not as impressive as huge superhero films—"Iron Man 3" took in a massive $173.5 million opening weekend—the film did take in more than Thursday showings of "Oz the Great and Powerful" ($2 million).

That film went on to earn $79 million in its March opening weekend for Disney.

Right now, critics are tearing "Gatsby" apart.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, out of 124 total reviews, 67 of them are rotten.

Here are examples of some of the harshest reviews:

Film.com:

"And so we wait, wait for the parties to end, wait for sparks to fly, for tragedy to strike, for repercussions to ensue, for our persistently passive protagonist to simply shut up already."

Wall Street Journal:

"This dreadful film even derogates the artistry of Fitzgerald, who wrote "The Great Gatsby" while living on Long Island and in Europe."

According to Fandango, that doesn't seem to matter.

It's not a big-city phenomenon; however, we've been told by the ticket seller there were at least 27 sold-out screenings last night across the country including five in New York City and nine in College Station, Texas.

A Fandango survey of moviegoers purchasing tickets shows they're seeing the film for essentially all the reasons critics find fault with it:

94% said the film’s grand scale imagery, costumes and set design inspired them to buy a ticket.
83% said the film’s eclectic soundtrack (with selections from Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Andre 3000) appealed to them.
61% consider themselves fans of the movie’s director, Baz Luhrmann (58% of those fans had seen Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!)
38% are making plans to see “Gatsby” as a Mother’s Day Weekend outing.

Another reason people may be flocking to see the film is because this is the first adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel they're seeing.

"The Great Gatsby" isn't going to break any records, and it most likely won't beat "Iron Man 3" in its second weekend, however, don't count it out.

BoxOffice.com is tracking the film to earn $41.5 million opening weekend.

Now: Check out more of the harsh reviews for "Gatsby">

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »