Friday Box Office, Warner Bros. | featured news

In what’s shaping up to be possibly the slowest weekend of the year at the box office, the only bright spot was the new viral thriller Contagion, which topped the charts with an estimated $8 million on Friday. Warner Bros.’ PG-13 film, which was directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars a who’s who of Oscar winners and nominees, received mostly positive reviews and is on pace for a solid $22 million opening. But its success cannot distract from the box office’s overall dismal performance. The top 10 movies grossed an estimated $19.6 million on Friday — the lowest Friday figure so far this year.

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.

Warner Bros.' remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" topped the domestic boxoffice on Friday with an impressive first-day tally estimated at $15.8 million, setting the stage for a $30 million-plus haul through Sunday.