Box Office, Friday Box Office | featured news

"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.

Leonardo DiCaprio's "Inception" is anything but a sleeper as the thriller opened big with $60.4 million and a No. 1 finish at the weekend boxoffice.

Christopher Nolan is having a fantastic Saturday. Jerry Bruckheimer is not. For the Dark Knight director scored over $21 million on Friday for his original, mind-bending film Inception. (That includes the $3 million brought in from the opening midnight shows.) The Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer, from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, could now earn $60 million for its three-day opening frame. That’s quite a contrast to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Disney’s failed attempt to recreate the magic of The National Treasure franchise. The film from Treasure producer Bruckheimer, director Jon Turteltaub and star Nicolas Cage grossed an estimated $5 million on Friday for a weekend take that may just hit $15 million. The film opened on Wednesday but even those two days of grosses won’t help the film get much past $20 million for the five-day period.

FRIDAY 8 PM: (Numbers will be refined later tonight.)
... Despicable Me 3D today is translating into "amazing" attendance of $22 million for what could be a $55M-$60M weekend opening despite having two other 3D family films in the marketplace.

As expected, Pixar/Disney's Toy Story still tops the North American box office for the 2nd straight week. Sony Pictures' Grown Ups continues Adam Sandler's near-perfect string of $40M weekend comedy openings for a strong second-place finish. And Twentieth Century Fox's Knight And Day brings up third place with better-than-expected estimates of $20M for the 3-day weekend and $27M for its 5-day cume.