Box Office, Friday Box Office | featured news

Tangled rid itself of any knots as it climbed to the top of the box office on Friday, grossing $5.1 million, according to early estimates. That’s a 74 percent drop from last Friday, which, mind you, was an enormous day for moviegoing. The PG animated musical should receive a decent bump on Saturday, as most family films do, and finish the weekend with about $21 million.

Harry Potter is on the way to his biggest magic act yet. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" conjured up $61.2 million domestically in its first day, positioning it for the best opening weekend ever for the series about the young wizard.

Close race for no. 1 between "Unstoppable" and "Megamind" for the weekend after the Tony Scott thriller takes the top spot Friday with $8.5 million.

FRIDAY 4:30 PM: Early North American box office reports reaching me indicate that DreamWorks Animation's Megamind 3D may be underperforming with an estimated $42M weekend from a giant release of 3,944 theaters with 2,634 of them 3D-equipped, Warner Bros' Due Date grossing on target with an estimated $35M from 3,355 theaters, and Lionsgate's For Colored Girls overperforming for an estimated $28M from 2,127 theaters.

1. Saw VII 3D (Lionsgate) NEW [2,808 Theaters] Friday $11M, Estimated Weekend $28M - A scary Halloween to one and all. You know what frightens me? More Saw pics. This is supposed to be the final chapter of the franchise that has made $763 million in global box office and $1+ billion in DVD sales.

Paramount Pictures scores with moviegoers as "Paranormal Activity 2" and "Jackass 3-D" gross $19 million and $7.7 million to lead Friday's box office.

Wow, looks like stupidity is even better in 3-D. At least that’s what Johnny Knoxville and his crew of American idiots proved yesterday, pulling in an astounding $20 million on Friday for a weekend that’s bound to hit $40 million even if moviegoers drop off after Jackass 3D‘s opening night. The Bruce Willis-Helen Mirren-starrer Red also had a solid beginning, earning approximately $7 million on Friday for a three-day that could reach $20 million.

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.

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.