Since its September 13 release, the Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu-starring Hustlers has made more than triple its budget at the domestic box office. STX’s female ensemble “stripper revenge pic” cleaned up, raking in $34 million opening weekend and staying strong to pocket an additional $17 million in weekend 2.

We decided to take a look at who got in on the action early, securing seats with pre-sale tickets? Who rushed to watch on opening weekend? And who waited for the second weekend (semi) slowdown?

The answer to all three: Women. 

Unlike what we’ve seen in historic attendance patterns, for Hustlers, female moviegoers showed up in force from the very get-go. Let’s zoom in on the Hustlers audience to see who contributed to its success, from pre-sales through its second weekend showings.

Pre-release

Female Gen Z and Millennial moviegoers helped fuel the Hustlers hype machine, far outpacing their male counterparts in pre-sale ticket purchases.

Compared to recent releases courting a similar audience, Hustlers pre-sales were on fire, selling 60% more tickets pre-release than Ocean’s Eight, 2.75X as many as Girls Trip, and 3X as many as Crazy Rich Asians.

Opening Weekend

At opening weekend, across every age group, women made up a notably larger portion of the Hustlers audience.

Our Weekend Insights data showed that during its debut weekend, Hustlers was the top pick for female moviegoers in all age groups, while it took the silver medal for younger male moviegoers who continued to flock to It: Chapter 2.

Fun fact: Hustlers was also the #1 choice for males aged 50 to 80!

Weekend 2

By the second weekend, Hustlers was still going strong, despite stiff competition from a fresh release also targeting female moviegoers: Downton Abbey.

Hustlers continued to draw a much larger proportion of female moviegoers in all age groups.

While Hustlers kept its crown with Millennial moviegoers in weekend 2, it started to shed its share of audience to new releases Downton Abbey, Ad Astra, and Rambo: Last Blood.

To Date

Hustlers’ strong appeal with female moviegoers has led to it having an audience that is 25% more female than the average movie.

Its diverse cast may also have contributed to it attracting above average attendance from African American, Hispanic, and Asian American moviegoers.

Takeaway

The obvious audience skew from the very outset shows STX knew its target audience and managed to successfully deliver an appealing message. Additionally, the sustained performance into weekend two suggests Hustlers was the rare crowd pleaser that actually did live up to the hype.