Friday Box Office | featured news

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" had a strong $35 million debut on Friday, but it looks like a $100 million weekend is out of the question. "Bridesmaids" held strong in the second slot with $6.4 million for a fantastic $45.8 million to date.

The raunchy R-rated comedy grosses $7.8 million on Friday to come in at No. 2; the mighty "Thor" stays at No. 1, pushing its worldwide total past $300 million.

There were major glitches with Rentrak reporting numbers last night. But now Marvel/Disney's Thor distributed by Paramount is looking like $25.5 million for its Friday opening and $65+M for the weekend.

"Fast Five" has left the competition in the dust with an $83.6 million debut to grab the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office. Studio estimates released Sunday show Universal Pictures' fifth movie in "The Fast and the Furious" franchise was by far this year's biggest opening. Its debut was more than double the previous best of $39.2 million for "Rio."

A HUGE midnight Thursday and all-day Friday turnout puts “Fast Five” on track to better the last “Fast/Furious” picture’s opening weekend box office take. The last film did $71 million, and deadline.com tracks this one at $80 million. That puts Justin Lin, the director of the recent films in the franchise, in a position to do ...

Twentieth Century Fox's Rio 3D may be about a bird, but Friday numbers show "it's holding like a rock," a studio exec just emailed me. Lionsgate's latest in Tyler Perry's franchise, Madea's Big Happy Family, looks soft compared to his others but it's not in very wide release and and its per screen average of $4,620 was the best of all the top-grossing pictures Friday... But overperforming is Fox's Water For Elephants based on Sara Gruen's best-selling book and written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Francis Lawrence.

Looking to repeat its stellar international launch, 20th Century Fox’s family film Rio topped the domestic box office Friday, grossing an estimated $10.2 million from 3,826 theaters. The 3D toon is headed toward a strong $37 million for the weekend... Dimension Films’ Scream 4 grossed an estimated $8 million from 3,305 locations for the day to easily come in No. 2. Pic received a B- CinemaScore, a good grade for a horror film. Based on its opening day performance, the R-rated horror film should gross $20 million to $21 million for the weekend, below Dimension's projections, but still a solid start. Scream 4 is playing in more than 3,300 theaters.

A billionaire, teenage assassin, champion surfer, and knightly Danny McBride were no match for an animated rabbit with unnaturally large eyes, as Universal’s Hop topped the box office for the second weekend in a row with $21.7 million, according to studio estimates. The PG family film, about a teenage hare who’d rather be a rock band drummer than fulfill his duty as the Easter Bunny, slipped a mild 42 percent its second week. The live-action/animation hybrid cost $63 million to produce, and has already snatched $68.2 million. However, it may take a big hit next week when the CG-animated Rio swoops into theaters.

Universal’s family pic Hop stayed at No. 1 on its second Friday at the domestic box office, grossing an estimated $5.5 million from 3,616 theaters. The CGI/live-action hybrid should gross $20.2 million for the weekend, putting its 10-day cume at more than $66 million. The weekend race is much harder to call for a trio of new films — Warner Bros.’ Arthur, Focus Features’ Hanna and TriStar/FilmDistrict’s inspirational film Soul Surfer.

Universal's family Easter pic Hop over performed in its domestic box office debut, grossing north of $11 million on Friday and putting it on track to earn at least $35 million, if not more, for the weekend... It was a good day overall at the box office. Summit Entertainment’s Source Code and FilmDistrict’s debut title Insidious also opened well.