Overall box office is looking to be in a close race with last year...
Think Like A Man surprisingly wound up on top for the day, and even with high anticipation, the film grossed a strong estimated $12.2 million on Friday, and considering it was only in around 2,000 theaters, that is huge ($6,000 average per theater in just a day). While critical reception was mainly negative for the book adaptation, audiences enjoyed what they saw and gave it a glowing "A" CinemaScore. With just a $13 million price tag, this movie is going to be a big hit for distributor Screen Gems, who is having their third #1 hit this year. Man should wind up with $30.5 million for its' opening.
But it wasn't the only film to do well on Friday. Not far behind in second was this weekend's originally-projected winner, The Lucky One, which scored a solid estimated $9.1 million on Friday. That was on par with star Zac Efron's 17 Again, which debuted to $9.3 million on this same Friday three years ago. Audience reception wasn't as bustling as its' competition, as the Nicholas Sparks book adaptation recieved a "B+" CinemaScore. Based on recent comparisons, I think The Lucky One should open to 17's same numbers at about $23 million.
Finally out of the top spot, The Hunger Games was down a light 38% to an estimated $4 million on its' fifth Friday, and should be in line for a $12 million weekend.
Debuting in fourth place was Disneynature's latest documentary, Chimpanzee, which got off to a stronger start than expected with an estimated $3.5 million. That was up slightly from African Cats, which earned $3.3 million from this same Friday last year, but would be very front-loaded only earning $6 million by the weekend's end (mostly due to Easter). It was also the second-best opening day for a Disneynature film behind Earth's $4 million opening Wednesday. Other analysts are projecting the film to hit $10-$11 million for the weekend, but I'm going to go a bit lower and say it will earn around $9 million.
Rounding out the Top 5 is The Cabin in the Woods, which held reasonably well for a film that had mixed word-of-mouth, dropping 58% to an estimated $2.5 million, in what should be a $7 million second weekend. The Three Stooges was unable to sustain well, dropping 59% to an estimated $2.3 million, but it should still be able to take fifth place for the weekend with over $8 million.
Studio weekend estimates to be posted tomorrow evening....
