If you base your expectations on quality you aren’t surprised Think Like a Man is on target to top the box-office, but I have to assume not many of you anticipated it would perform this well as it is looking at a potential $33+ million weekend based on Friday estimates.
As of now the number is $12.2 million for the ensemble romantic comedy, which is something I’ve expected since Kevin Hart dominated the celebrity game during the NBA All-Star Weekend. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that the film is the best new wide release on the board, and audiences have been eating it up. The film has scored an “A” CinemaScore so far, receiving an “A+” from males, “A” from females, “A+” from moviegoers under the age of 25 and an “A” from every other category. Yeah, an A+ from males, which is what is going to make sure this film ends up #1 at the box-office.
What’s also impressive about Think Like a Man‘s performance (beyond its amazing $550,000 from midnight screenings) is that it is playing in only 2,015 theaters, which happens to be 1,140 fewer theaters than fellow newcomer in wide release, the Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Lucky One, which appears to have second place locked up, but not nearly enough to compete for #1.
The Lucky One took in an estimated $9.1 million on Friday on its way to a potential $25-27 million for the weekend from 3,155 theaters. While this won’t be enough to take #1, it is still a strong start for a Sparks adaptation with the Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried starrer Dear John being the only Sparks adaptation to this point to top $20 million in its opening weekend. That one, in fact, brought in just over $30 million back in February 2010.
In third is The Hunger Games, which didn’t stand much of a chance at winning its fifth weekend in a row against this week’s competition, but it still looks like it will hit double digits after an estimated $4 million on Friday.
I’ve included Friday’s estimated top ten directly below and will be back Sunday morning with a complete wrap-up.
- Think Like a Man – $12.2 million
- The Lucky One – $9.1 million
- The Hunger Games – $4 million
- Chimpanzee – $3.3 million
- The Cabin in the Woods – $2.5 million
- The Three Stooges – $2.4 million
- American Reunion – $1.6 million
- Titanic 3D – $1.3 million
- 21 Jump Street – $1.2 million
- Mirror Mirror – $1.0 million
By the way, did you read my review of Think Like a Man? No? Click here and read it again.
