Box Office, Friday Box Office | featured news

After a tragic start to its domestic run, Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight Rises" is still poised for boffo biz at the domestic box office, with early estimates putting the Batman sequel at $75 million to 80 million for Friday alone... Warner Bros. announced on Friday that it would not report box office figures for "The Dark Knight Rises" over the weekend out of respect for the victims of the shooting in Aurora, Colo., which left 12 people dead after a lone gunman opened fire on the packed theater at a Thursday midnight screening. It was the second Batpic in a row to open under tragic circumstances; Heath Ledger's death in January 2008 came before his Oscar-winning turn as The Joker in that year's July release, "The Dark Knight."

Smashing records and setting off early holiday fireworks, Seth MacFarlane's Ted debuted to a massive $54.1 million at the domestic box office -- the best showing ever for an original R-rated comedy. It wasn't the only R-rated winner of the weekend. Steven Soderbergh's male striptease dramedy Magic Mike likewise overperformed in a big way, grossing $39.2 million. It's the first time in history that two R-rated movies opened north of $20 million on the same weekend.

"Ted" earns $20.2 million, while "Magic Mike" earns $19.4 million; Tyler Perry's "Madea's Witness Protection" does good business with $10.3 million. The box office surged Friday as Ted and Magic Mike scored some of the best numbers ever for the R-rated comedy genre. Tyler Perry's more tame Madea's Witness Protection also did good business.

Pixar’s “Brave” did $24.5M on Friday and expected to gross around $70M this weekend, better than the $60M box office analysts were projecting. According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, it’s the third highest opening day box office for Pixar behind “Toy Story 3” ($41M) and “Cars 2” ($25.7M).

In my “Battleship” article, I wrote that a Universal exec or two will probably have to resign if “Snow White and The Hunstman” didn’t perform up to expectations because of how poorly the ultra expensive “Battleship” have done at the box office recently.

But to come out ahead, Sony's 3D tentpole will need plenty of kids and families to turn out over the long Memorial Day weekend; horror pic "Chernobyl Diaries" opens in the No. 4 spot with $3.5 milllion, Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" soars at the specialty box office.read more

The record-smashing tentpole now has a shot at debuting to $170 million, the biggest opening of all time in North America; the pic has earned $334.3 million internationally for a whopping global total of $414.8 million.

“Think Like A Man,” the big screen adaptation of Steve Harvey’s bestselling book, did suprisingly well at Friday’s box office by grossing an outstanding $12.2M. What's even more amazing is it did it in just 2000 theaters. It could end the weekend with $30-36M. Films targeted at the African-American audience tend to be front loaded, so it could end in the lower end of estimates. Still, what a surprise. "Think Like A Man" received mixed reviews, scoring 49% on the Tomatometer.

The feast is on: "The Hunger Games" has taken in $68.25 million domestically in its first day, a record for a non-sequel. The Friday total for Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games" was the fifth-best opening day ever and puts the movie on track for the best debut weekend ever in March. That record is held by "Alice in Wonderland" with $116.1 million.

The doldrums that kicked in a year ago at the domestic box office continued Friday as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked faced a soft marketplace, further worrying Hollywood.