The complete Friday Box Office report will be posted at its usual time Saturday morning, but in the meantime we have one big over-performer in Despicable Me 2, one opener slightly above forecast (Kevin Hart) and one flat-out, embarrassing bomb (Lone Ranger), doing even worse than our bearish expectations.
With $34.3 million Wednesday and $24.5 million Thursday, Despicable Me 2 stands at $58.8 million for the first two days. Earlier in the week we forecast a Wednesday-Thursday total of $46 million ($124 million Wednesday-Sunday and $78 million for the traditional Friday-Sunday portion of the weekend). We’ll have a better view of the weekend tomorrow morning, but it looks like Despicable Me 2 could be more like $85 million Friday-Sunday and $144 million Wednesday-Sunday.
The Lone Ranger has grossed $19.5 million the first two days ($9.6 million Wednesday and $9.9 million Thursday), compared to the $24 million we forecast for Wednesday-Thursday ($56 million Wednesday-Sunday forecast and $32 million Friday-Sunday). The Lone Ranger could be more like $49 million the first five days (perhaps $29 million Friday-Sunday), making this the Schadenfreude event of the summer — until Pacific Rim comes along next week.
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain has grossed $7.4 million so far ($4.8 million Wednesday and $2.6 million Thursday), well ahead of the forecast $4.5 million. We’ll adjust Kevin Hart up somewhat to $16 million Wednesday-Sunday ($8.5 million Friday-Sunday).
Complete details tomorrow.
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