Friday Box Office | featured news

Earning $5.3 million, "Life As We Know It" took the early box office lead ahead of the weekend's two other new releases: "Secretariat" and "My Soul to Take."

1. The Social Network (Sony) NEW [2,771 Theaters]
Friday $8M, Estimated Weekend $24M

The stories behind Microsoft and Apple only rated TV movies. But The Social Network received the full big screen PG-13 treatment as the first major pedigreed project about the Internet that wasn't just another crime thriller.

Oliver Stone sequel takes in $7 million for No. 1 spot; Ben Affleck crime drama drops to No. 2 with $5 million.

Actor/director Ben Affleck's Warner Bros crime thriller is overperforming at the North American box office tonight. Based on Friday's $8.5M grosses, it will easily finish No. 1 this opening weekend when it was only predicted to come in 2nd. The "R"-rated movie's estimated $25+M looks like it will nearly equal the $28.6M of the same studio's October 6, 2006, Boston crime thriller The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese.

"Resident Evil: Afterlife" showed there's still plenty of life in the franchise when it posted an estimated $10.9 million to open atop the Friday box office.

1. Machete (Fox) NEW [2,670 Theaters]
Friday $3.9M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $14M)

2. The American (Focus Features) NEW [2,823 Theaters] Opened Wed
Friday $3.8M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $16M, Estimated Cume $15M

3. Takers (Screen Gems/Sony) Week 2 [2,206 Theaters]
Friday $3.1M (-60%), Estimated 4-Day Holiday $14M, Estimated Cume $40M

Despite its crazy ending, "The Last Exorcism" took the Friday box office title with an estimated $9.4 million in earnings. The Hayden Christensen-Chris Brown vehicle "Takers" came in second with a $7.5 million opening day at the box office. "The Expendables," which has won the box office title the last two weekends, finished third with $2.7 million, putting it over $75 million total.

Mercenaries nudge past "Vampires" for first place slot while "The Switch" fails to light up the boxoffice Friday.

1) The Expendables (Lionsgate) NEW [3,270 Theaters]
Friday $13M, Estimated Weekend $33.7M

2) Eat Pray Love (Sony) NEW [3,082 Theaters]
Friday $9.8m, Estimated Weekend $28.3M

3) The Other Guys (Sony) Week 2 [3,651 Theaters]
Friday $5.5M (-58%), Estimated Weekend $17M

Disney's 3D dance extravaganza was no match for Sony's buddy-cop comedy, which snagged $13.2 million on Friday. Sony's buddy-cop action comedy " The Other Guys," starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, sped to the top of the daily boxoffice rankings with an estimated $13.2 million from its first day in movie theaters on Friday.