Sorry, I had a screening this morning, which means my opportunity to get to Friday numbers before now was limited. So I will just be rushing through these and you can add any additional analysis you feel worthy of consideration to the comments.
As expected, Transformers: Dark of the Moon took first on Friday with an estimated $14.9 million, which should translate to about $45 million for the weekend putting the film over the $258 million mark domestically in its first two weeks. And yes, this will mean Dark of the Moon will be 2011’s domestic box-office leader, surpassing The Hangover Part II, which currently holds the crown with just under $250 million. The question in coming weeks, however, is whether or not it will be able to hold that title with the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which is sure to become the first film to eclipse the $100 million mark in its opening weekend this year.
In second is the R-rated comedy Horrible Bosses bringing in just shy of $10 million on Friday onward to what is likely to be a very respectable $25 million weekend.
In third is Zookeeper with an estimated $7.4 million on Friday and what will likely be a $24 million weekend. Based on the reported $80 million production budget I’m not sure how well that number will sit with the powers that be.
I have included the Friday top ten below and will go into deeper analysis of the weekend tomorrow morning so stay tuned.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon – $14.9 million
- Horrible Bosses – $9.9 million
- Zookeeper – $7.4 million
- Cars 2 – $4.8 million
- Bad Teacher – $3 million
- Larry Crowne – $1.9 million
- Monte Carlo – $1.5 million
- Super 8 – $1.4 million
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins – $1 million
- Green Lantern – $945,000
