Overall box office is set to be very much up from last year...
Taken 2 topped the box office on Friday, with a massive estimated $18.6 million on Friday. That ranks second to Paranormal Activity 3 for all-time Fall opening days. Despite critics panning the film, the sequel is hitting high marks with audiences (no CinemaScore grade is available). Considering sequels are a bit more front-loaded than their predecessors, Taken 2 should hit $51 million for the weekend, easily the largest opening weekend since The Dark Knight Rises.
Despite competition, Hotel Transylvania remained sturdy in second. The animated monster mash eased a light 40% from last Friday to an estimated $6.5 million, in what will likely be a $27 million weekend, down just 37% from last weekend.
Taking third place on Friday, musical comedy Pitch Perfect impressed with an estimated $4.9 million in its' nationwide debut. Given its' strong "A" CinemaScore, I wouldn't be surprised if the weekend number was around $14 million. Behind it was Looper, which was down 50% from last Friday to an estimated $3.5 million, a solid hold given its' sci-fi genre. Look for the thriller to track down $11.5 million for the weekend.
Rounding out the Top 5 with mildly disappointing results was Disney and Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, which was only able to muster an estimated $3.3 million on Friday. The opening Friday was in line with August's The Odd Life of Timothy Green (though that was a Summer release). Stop-motion animated can be a tough sell, but with great critical reception, I am going to go on a limb and say that Frankenweenie could at least challenge Pitch Perfect for third place with $14 million.
Weekend grosses coming tomorrow afternoon...
