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Fox sequel nets $15.3 million at box office -- In a box office face-off between a family and a male-demo sequel, Fox's PG rated "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" took the first Friday of the Memorial Day frame with an estimated $15.3 million while Warner Bros.' franchise actioner "Terminator Salvation" followed with $14.9 million.

The first-day haul included a $3 million-plus tally for thousands of midnight Wednesday performances.

Sources tell me that Friday's opening North American grosses for Imagine/Sony's Angels & Demons were at least $17 million Friday from 3,527 theaters. So the studio believes the weekend total can't be lower than $47M-$49M and still has a shot at the $50M Sony wanted. But rival studios predicting a $55M-$60M domestic weekend called the result "very disappointing".

Only one new film ventures into wide release as Tom Hanks steps back into the role of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon for the conspiracy thriller Angels & Demons. A sequel to the 2006 smash The Da Vinci Code, Angels reunites Hanks with director Ron Howard for the fourth time. Both films were based on the best-selling novels of Dan Brown. In the new installment, Langdon is called to the Vatican to help stop a secret society from killing the top Cardinals of the Catholic Church following the death of the Pope. Code was a global smash opening three years ago...

Paramount Pictures had estimated that the movie would make about $50 million for the weekend, but figured that strong reviews helped carry it to the bigger opening.

The North American opening for Paramount's No. 1 Star Trek grosses Friday was $24 million from 3,849 theaters. So, adding in the $7M from Thursday 7 PM-Midnight screenings, the reimagined space odyssey has made $31 million so far. My studio insiders say the total weekend number now could easily reach $72M. "But it still has a shot at $75M if it gets any bump on Saturday," an exec explains. (Rival studios now think the Fri-Sat-Sun tally will only be $65M "because it's not expanding as the night goes on".) To put that in perspective, a domestic weekend total under $50M would have meant the pic didn't attract a new and younger audience and relied instead on the franchise's older but loyal fanbase of Trekkies. It was risky for Paramount to market the movie as "not your father's Star Trek". But the critical reviews for JJ Abrams' reboot are 96% positive.

After X-Men: Origins: Wolverine grossed a sizable $87m in the US in its opening weekend, 20th Century Fox has moved quickly to greenlight a sequel.

Sources tell me that Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine had a stunning $35 million debut Friday thanks in part to heavy attendance at tonight's shows and the studio's widest release ever into 4,099 theaters. That includes the $5 million midnight shows at 2,000 venues.) Comparables include Iron Man, which made $39M its opening Friday, and Fast & Furious which earned $30.5M.

"Fast and Furious" remained in the driver's seat at the foreign box office, winning its third straight weekend with $15.2 million at 6,340 playdates in 59 markets -- all of it from holdover business.

Audiences are in the mood for some fatal attraction action at the box office. Beyonce Knowles and Idris Elba's "Obsessed" debuted as the top weekend movie with $28.5 million in ticket sales. The Sony Screen Gems thriller stars Knowles and Elba as a couple whose ideal marriage lands on the rocks after a psychotic temp played by Ali Larter begins stalking the husband.