Box office once again will be up from last year, and it will be the eighth consecutive weekend that a film doesn't repeat at #1, as well as the eighth consecutive weekend that the top new release grossed $20 million or more...
Relativity Media scored a rare hit with war action flick Act of Valor, which opened to a strong estimated $9.1 million, and earned a solid "A" CinemaScore, despite negative critical reception. That's impressive given that the film had been tracking softly until after getting a couple of Super Bowl promotions. Based on recent trajectories, the film is well on track for a $26 million weekend.
Tyler Perry's Good Deeds stumbled out of the gate a bit, with an estimated $5.4 million, ranking as the second-lowest Friday yet for the multitasker, though it was right in line with expectations since it wasn't projected to come close to the heights of Perry's Madea films. I'd expect a $16 million weekend here.
Third place is a race between third weekend holdovers The Vow, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Safe House. The romance drama was down 56% to an estimated $3.3 million, the family sequel eased just 29% to an estimated $3.2 million, and the action thriller fell 52% to an estimated $3.1 million. Due to a big Saturday bump, we should expect Journey 2 to hold the third spot for the third-straight weekend with around $14 million, followed by Safe House and The Vow with around $11 million each.
The other two new releases were ignored by audiences, landing in eighth and ninth place. Wanderlust debuted with just an estimated $2.2 million, which was the least-grossing effort from both Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd in years, and will probably just end up at $6 million due to a discouraging "B-" CinemaScore.
A bland title and low anticipation couldn't get Amanda Seyfried to score a hit with Gone, which faltered with just an estimated $1.7 million on opening day, and earned a mortifying "C+" CinemaScore grade. The action drama is looking at a weekend of $4.5 million, and could even drop below the Top 10 if its' Saturday bump isn't good.
Weekend estimates to be posted tomorrow...
