Atole Blog's

Water for Elephants has quite a lot going for it. It's based on the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen, so that gives it a built-in audience. Add to that the fact that any director would kill to have the film's three leads, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz, and you have what looks like a hit. Elephants is bound to appeal more to moviegoers aged 25+, and that means there may not be a huge opening weekend rush. Expect the film to show decent legs even as Fast Five and Thor begin to dominate multiplexes in the weeks to come.

Online buzz is surprisingly strong for Elephants. The drama leads all unreleased films with a 17.24% market share of online opinions. The presence of Robert Pattinson certainly accounts for a lot out of those comments.

On Facebook, Water for Elephants' most active page has added nearly 50,000 new supporters since early Monday morning. That's a very healthy number for a drama aimed at adults. Twitter activity is also very strong. Water for Elephants is inspiring more tweets than Remember Me and Charlie St. Cloud.

Fandango is reporting that Water for Elephants accounts for 10% of daily sales. That impressive figure could jump even higher tomorrow as more couples plan for the weekend.

Expect Water for Elephants to take in $18 million from about 2,700 locations during its debut frame.