Box Office, Friday Box Office | featured news

Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies' quirky toon Rango -- voiced by Johnny Depp -- topped the Friday box office with an estimated $9.8 million from 3,917 theaters, a somewhat softer-than-expected start for the critically acclaimed film.

The Farrelly brothers’ R-rated comedy Hall Pass opened to a soft $4.6 million on Friday, and will likely be beat by holdovers Gnomeo & Juliet and Unknown for the weekend.

The weekend box office crown is still up for grabs as the Liam Neeson thriller and the sci-fi adventure are only $500,000 apart in estimated grosses.

Screen Gems is back in good form with thriller The Roommate, which easily beat Universal/Relativity’s 3D Sanctum at the Friday box office in grossing an estimated $6.4 million from 2,534 screens. Sanctum, executive produced by James Cameron, grossed an estimated $3.6 million from 2,787 runs, including more than 2,000 3D runs. The Australian adventure-thriller also is playing in 178 Imax theaters.

New Line/Warner Bros.’ Anthony Hopkins horror-exorcism pic The Rite topped the box office Friday, grossing an estimated $5.3 million from 3,022 theaters.

The Green Hornet landed with more of a box-office prick than a sting, collecting $10.8 million on Friday, according to studio estimates. That puts the $110 million movie, starring Seth Rogen as the titular superhero, on pace for a four-day holiday weekend grab of about $36 million.

Relativity Media’s Season of the Witch opened to an estimated $3.7 million from 2,816 theaters at the Friday box office to place No. 3 behind Paramount’s True Grit -- which all but jumped the $100 million mark -- and Universal’s Little Fockers.

"True Grit" grossed $4.8 million on Friday, but "Little Fockers" held onto the top spot with $5.1 million.

"Tron Legacy" has a very strong start with $18 million on Friday. "Yogi Bear" found $4.7 million and "The Fighter" climbed to third in its initial expansion with $3.925 million.

Film News: Third in series earns $8 mil in 3,555 runs -- Once again, a 3D pic topped the Friday box office.