Pantera made $1.35M yesterday from showtimes that began at 6PM, a figure that’s ahead of the $950K previews of the original 2018 movie by +42%, but under last year’s other guy meat and potatoes movie,

Owen Gleiberman of Variety calls Den of Thieves 2: Pantera a satisfying impersonation of a high-end crime film, saying that Gerard Butler is good enough to lift “a piece of pulp so it almost seems like a real movie.” The critic continues:

Gerard Butler and O'Shea Jackson Jr. are back in "Den of Thieves 2: Pantera" for more white-knuckled heist action. The sequel puts Big Nick back on the path of Donnie, who has managed to get embroiled in the world of international diamond theft.

A heist procedural, a film granular with details about one massive criminal undertaking, elevated by a pair of charismatic leading men in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

While a solid heist movie, the sequel is missing the crime element that made the original compelling but is still entertaining thanks to Gerard Butler's perform

Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. are back in “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” four years after their first action-packed heist thriller became a hit. The Lionsgate movie has made $1.35 million in Thursday previews so far at the box office.

Butler’s brusque, beady-eyed, scowling-hulk charisma has aged well. A quick-fire actor in a caveman’s body, he has the ability to lift a piece of pulp so that it almost seems like a real movie.