Tyler Perry, Friday Box Office | featured news

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.

Twentieth Century Fox's Rio 3D may be about a bird, but Friday numbers show "it's holding like a rock," a studio exec just emailed me. Lionsgate's latest in Tyler Perry's franchise, Madea's Big Happy Family, looks soft compared to his others but it's not in very wide release and and its per screen average of $4,620 was the best of all the top-grossing pictures Friday... But overperforming is Fox's Water For Elephants based on Sara Gruen's best-selling book and written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Francis Lawrence.