Well box-office fans, the war has been declared as Harry Potter and his wizarding folk are taking on Disney’s latest princess. While it may seem unfair, the princess is holding her ground as the two head into the Friday after Thanksgiving in a close race for the three-day box-office weekend.
Disney Animation’s Tangled was released on Wednesday and opened to the tune of $11.8 million compared to $14.4 million earned by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Potter maintained its lead on Thursday with another $11.5m compared to $8.1m for Tangled. Things were looking up for Potter with a $6 million lead going into Friday, but Tangled stands a chance for the three-day victory.
On Friday, Harry Potter‘s daily lead was snipped to $1.1 million with the seventh film in the franchise earning an estimated $20.8 million compared to Tangled‘s never-say-die $19.7 million. After three days Tangled has now earned $39.6 million and with that $19.7 million Friday we may be looking at a $50-55 million three-day, which makes for a potential $75 million for the five-day. These are impressive numbers!
Of course, Potter is looking phenomenal as well as it too will be looking for another $30 million more over the weekend. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Harry Potter will take the five-day with $76-80 million, but I think the three-day is up for grabs. Animated family films always tend to perform better on Saturday and Sunday, but it all comes down to how many home-for-the-holidays families sought Tangled on Friday as opposed to waiting for the weekend. Either way it’s nice to see an excellent animated film hanging tough with one of the best movie franchises of all-time. Tangled deserved this kind of performance, it’s an excellent movie.
As for the other newcomers, Burlesque was off to a slow start over Wednesday and Thursday with only a $5.3 million cume. Unfortunately I can’t say if it deserved better or not as my press screening in Seattle was canceled due to the print not arriving caused by poor weather conditions. On Friday the film pulled itself together slightly bringing in $4.5 million, but this pretty much means we’re looking at about a $12 million weekend for Christina Aguilera’s acting debut.
If we wanted to compare this to other bubbly popstars taking to the silver screen, Britney Spears had Crossroads which made $14.5 million on its opening weekend. Miley Cyrus had Bolt after her concert movie, which opened with $26.2 million and if you don’t want to count an animated film, Hannah Montana The Movie made $32.3 million on its opening weekend. Mariah Carey’s Glitter managed $2.4 million, From Justin to Kelly opened with $2.7 million and Mandy Moore’s A Walk to Remember opened with $12.1 million. Burlesque‘s five-day makes for a hard comparison, but feel free to make any comparisons you desire in the comments.
Fox’s Love and Other Drugs received a majority of negative reviews from critics, which surprised me a little. I thought I would be in the minority on that opinion, but it seems either reviews, word-of-mouth, an overall lack of interest or a combination of the three hurt the film’s box-office performance. After $4.1 million in its first two days, the Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal starrer added $3.8 million on Friday, which means it will be fighting for an $8 million three-day.
The weekend’s other new wide release was Dwayne Johnson’s Faster, which I didn’t like and has also seemed to split the commenters on my review. After $3.4 million on Wednesday and Thursday it made another $3.2 million on Friday and will be competing with Love and Other Drugs for the weekend’s sixth slot.
As far as the Faster vs. Love and Other Drugs battle, I’m curious… Prior to Thanksgiving advertising for Love and Other Drugs seemed to be everywhere and then Faster exploded on Turkey Day. Did you see the same thing?
So it looks like we have two battles to keep track of with newcomers (that is if we consider Harry Potter still a newcomer. Which films do you see winning the three-day? Are you going to be adding to the sales to help tip the scales?
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – $20.8 million
- Tangled – $19.7 million
- Megamind – $5.4 million
- Unstoppable – $4.6 million
- Burlesque – $4.5 million
- Love and Other Drugs – $3.8 million
- Faster – $3.2 million
- Due Date – $2.8 million
- The Next Three Days – $2.3 million
- Morning Glory – $1.7 million
