Friday Box Office: 'Hangover 2' Opens Huge as Does Malick's 'Tree of Life' in Limited Release

The Hangover Part II already ranks third among Thursday openers all-time. Only Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith ($50 million) and The Matrix Reloaded ($37.5 million) rank ahead of the $31.6 million the WB comedy pulled down two days ago. That number includes the $10.4 million the film made at midnight that day, which was the biggest of the year by more than double.

The film then continued its winning streak on Friday, dipping only 5%, bringing in an estimated $30 million, giving it over $61 million in just two days. Early predictions said it would make over $100 million for the five-day weekend, predictions then moved to $125 million, then $135 million and now $139 million. The Hangover Part II is certainly trending big, but it won’t be big enough to break any Memorial Day weekend records which currently has Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End at the top with $139.8 million for the four-day weekend.

In all likelihood, The Hangover 2 will end up fourth on the Memorial Day weekend list, just ahead of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. And if you’re wondering about the best three-day opening for an R-rated film it will be competing with The Matrix Reloaded‘s $91.7 million of which it has almost bitten off one-third, but is unlikely to catch.

As far as The Hangover 2‘s three-day prospects, that looks like we’re talking around $85 million, which is almost $20 million more than Laremy predicted and will certainly be enough to take the weekend as well as best the record for an R-rated comedy, which is currently held by Sex and the City with $57 million.

In second place on Friday was the 3D animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2 with $13.1 million and what will likely increase to $45 million as families take to the theaters. If audiences really fall for the Panda it might be able to become the Memorial Day record holder for an animated film, a record currently held by Madagascar at $61 million, but it is going to need some help and there is always that 3D asterisk helping it along the way.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is looking at a $37 million three-day after an estimated $10.8 on Friday, which would signal a 58.9% drop. However, Nikkie Finke at Deadline predicts it will perform some serious magic over the three-day and end at $42 million… and I thought I was being generous with $37m.

Bridesmaids continues to hold on strong with an estimated $4.6 million on Friday and will likely end the weekend with about $15 million for a 39% dip after last week’s incredibly strong hold. The Hangover obviously takes a bit of its business, but the film should hit around $83 million by the end of the day on Sunday, and with a reported $32.5 million budget that is great news as you can still tack on international dollars to that number.

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris added 52 theaters this weekend and has found its way into the top ten after a stellar showing in only six theaters last weekend. The film took in an estimated $476,000 on Friday and will likely take $1.5 million for the three-day giving it a $25,862 per theater average. Not too shabby eh? And with a lot of room to expand.

Lastly, Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which won the Palme d’Or last weekend at the Cannes Film Festival, is finally in theaters and it took an estimated $115,000 from only four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, a $28,750 per theater average for one day. It will likely end the three-day weekend around $400,000 for a massive $100,000 per theater average for the weekend giving Fox Searchlight good reason why it opened it where it knew people would line up to see it. You can click here to see when the film will be heading your way.

I have included the Friday top ten directly below and will be back tomorrow morning with a complete wrap up.