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Fuller numbers are in, and they show a surprising near-tie on Friday between RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, THE HELP and FINAL DESTINATION 5, all at $7.3-7.8M for the day. The Apes have the presumptive advantage over the weekend, because 2d weekends are less front-loaded than openings, but since The Help started on Wednesday, that rule may not apply and the race could end up much closer than expected. (Final Destination 5 is almost certain to fade.) However the final numbers play out, this is great news for The Help.
30 MINUTES OR LESS is headed for a dim $12M or so over the weekend, and even that looks good compared to GLEE 3D, which may only do $7-8M.
As to other holdovers, COWBOYS & ALIENS looks to plummet another 50-55%, while CRAZY STUPID LOVE and THE SMURFS had good holds again, falling only 40% or so from last Friday.
The Hollywood Reporter has some extremely early Friday numbers, and it appears that RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES had a very healthy day with $8.5-9M, which could double its $4.3M Thursday. If that number holds, it should lead to a $25M+ weekend, which would be a very acceptable 55% or so drop from its opening.
THE HELP, on its smaller scale, is also doing quite well, aiming at about $6M for Friday, which could give it $20M for the weekend and $30M since its Wednesday opening. Considering that the movie’s budget was only $25M (excluding marketing), that would be a very good number. My review is here.
FINAL DESTINATION 5‘s Friday appears to be in Help‘s neighborhood, but the horror movie cost more ($40M+) and will almost certainly be far more front-loaded.
After that, the news gets less good for new arrivals: both GLEE 3D and 30 MINUTES OR LESS (my review of the latter is here) seem to be headed for around $10M for the weekend, with Minutes perhaps a bit ahead. The Glee concert movie cost less and should do stronger business on homevideo, so that’s better news for them than for 30 Minutes.
Check out Mitch Metcalf’s Weekend Predictions, and stay with SHOWBUZZDAILY all weekend for the latest boxoffice numbers and analysis.
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