In Friday's battle of the behemoths to kick off Memorial Day weekend, Fox's The Day After Tomorrow edged out reigning champ Shrek 2 with an estimated $24.7M in its first day of release. The colossal opening day gross bodes well for the four-day holiday span as the climate disaster film looks to compete with the muscular green ogre for box office supremacy. Other recent Memorial Day blockbuster openers like last year's Bruce Almighty and 2001's disaster pic Pearl Harbor each collected 24% of their four-day tallies on their Friday bows. The Day After Tomorrow could follow a similar pattern and rake in $90-100M over the long weekend.

Shrek 2 may have dropped to second place on Friday, but its chances of winning the weekend are still very much alive. The DreamWorks overachiever grossed an estimated $21.5M slipping just 23% from last Friday. The family-friendly sequel is generating more of its business on Saturdays and Sundays so large increases should be expected. Three years ago, the first Shrek also had the Memorial Day frame as its second weekend and its Friday gross accounted for only 18% of the four-day haul. As a sequel, Shrek 2 might experience a slightly larger Friday share, but its Friday-to-Monday tally could still skyrocket to a staggering $100-105M.

Among films not approaching the century mark over the long weekend, Buena Vista's Raising Helen debuted on Friday with $3.7M in its first day of release. The Kate Hudson comedy looks to collect $14-17M over the four-day session. The frame's other new wide release, MGM's airline comedy Soul Plane, debuted to an estimated $2M and should take off with $7-9M for the long weekend.

For reviews of The Day After Tomorrow, Shrek 2, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, visit The Chief Report.

Last Updated: May 29, 2004 at 3:00PM EST

Written by Gitesh Pandya