Saturday Update
|
|
Disney claimed the top spot on Friday with the debut of
its PG-rated adventure film Race to Witch Mountain
which grossed an estimated $6.7M in its first day of release. Saturday
and Sunday should bring solid matinee business from family audiences so
the Dwayne Johnson starrer has much more to collect ahead of it. The studio
saw its March hit The Pacifier take
in 29% of its opening weekend tally on Friday in 2005 while its 2006 pic
The Shaggy Dog saw Friday account for
25% of the three-day take. Witch could
find itself reaching $24-26M this weekend over the Friday-to-Sunday period
for an easy first place finish.
After posting the largest opening of the year last weekend, the superhero saga Watchmen crumbled by 78% on its second Friday pulling in an estimated $5.4M. That puts the Warner Bros. release in the company of films like Saw V and The Day the Earth Stood Still which both suffered Friday-to-Friday declines of 75% on the sophomore frame. For the weekend, look for Watchmen to claim second place with $16-19M. Universal's horror film The Last House on the Left enjoyed a solid bow on Friday with an estimated $5.6M in its first day of play. A three-day take of about $12-14M should result which would put the average at more than $5,000 from 2,401 venues. The sex comedy Miss March was mostly ignored on Friday bowing to an estimated $900,000 which should translate to a $2-3M debut over three days for Fox Searchlight. Among holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were 10% for Taken, 39% for Madea Goes to Jail, and 30% for Slumdog Millionaire. Overall, the North American top ten may drop 10-15% from a year ago as well as from 2007. Check back on Sunday for the complete weekend box office report. |
Last Updated: March 14, 2009 at 10:00AM ET
Written by Gitesh Pandya