‘The Fault in Our Stars’ pops with $8.2 million Thursday night

“The Fault in Our Stars” is off to a stellar start.

The romantic drama, based on the popular John Green novel, grossed $8.2 million in ticket sales from Thursday showings, according to 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the film.

The movie about two teens who meet and fall in love at a cancer support group has been projected to gross at least $35 million in the United States and Canada through Sunday, though it could certainly do much better given the Thursday results.

The Thursday numbers clearly benefited from the special fan screenings, dubbed “The Night Before Our Stars,” in 650 theaters, for which tickets cost $25 each. Those screenings featured a live simulcast of a question-and-answer session with stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Nat Wolff, along with author John Green and director Josh Boone.

Also handicapping projections is the possibility that the social media-fueled interest among the young female fan base could be skewing box-office results toward early screenings.

The $12-million movie is expected to give Tom Cruise’s $178-million “Edge of Tomorrow” a reason to break out the Kleenex. The time-looping science fiction movie is expected to gross roughly $25 million through Sunday.

The Warner Bros. film started things off with $1.8 million in ticket sales.