EARLY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: “The Heat” Behind “Monsters U” But Way Ahead of “White House Down”

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Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline (which, it should be noted, were fairly overoptimistic last night), Saturday’s results were in line with Friday’s lead.  MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Disney/Pixar) will easily take the weekend after a decent 20% Saturday bump, for what should be a $45M weekend, down only 45% from opening weekend–a better performance than last year’s Brave, and far better than Cars 2.

THE HEAT (20th) was the #1 newcomer of the weekend, down a slight 4% on Saturday for what should be a $37M weekend.  (The studio is claiming $40M, which would require Sunday to be exactly even with Saturday.  That’s not impossible–Man of Steel pulled it off on Father’s Day–but it’s unlikely on a non-holiday Sunday.)

There was no meaningful relief for WHITE HOUSE DOWN (Sony), up a puny 5% on Saturday and likely to have a $25M weekend.  After this and After Earth, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Sony’s upcoming sequels Grown-Ups 2 and Smurfs 2 to perform.

WORLD WAR Z (Paramount) showed mediocre legs in its second weekend, down more than 55% to a likely $29M total.  The important number tomorrow will be its overseas performance, which will determine its overall success–or not.

MAN OF STEEL (Warners) continued to sink, down more than 50% again to $20M for the weekend.  The epic will look for some 4th of July (and international) help to bolster its status as a franchise.