Shark Tale easily swam to the top of the charts on Friday opening to an estimated $12.9M in its first day of release. Diving into an astounding 4,016 theaters, the DreamWorks toon could finish the weekend with $41-46M. The opening day performance was just a bit below the $13.7M Friday bow of Fox's computer-animated film Ice Age which led to a $46.3M debut frame in March 2002.

Opening in second place with an estimated $7.6M on Friday was the firefighter drama Ladder 49. Buena Vista is on course to gross $21-24M over the Friday-to-Sunday span.

Among holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were 51% for The Forgotten, 54% for First Daughter, and 34% for Shaun of the Dead.

Be sure to check back on Sunday for the complete weekend box office report featuring official studio estimates.

Last Updated: October 2, 2004 at 1:00PM EST

Written by Gitesh Pandya