'Night at the Museum' Bests 'Terminator' at Friday Box-Office
Family beats geek genre in the holiday opening day
Photo: 20th Century Fox
After taking in $13.37 million on Thursday, including Wednesday midnight showings, Terminator Salvation was unable to hold down Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian on Friday as Variety reports the comedy took the first Friday of the Memorial Day frame with an estimated $15.3 million while Terminator followed with $14.9 million. Many box-office prognosticators expected a tight battle between the two films at the top of the list and even a few predicted Museum to come in first, and with numbers like this it is hard to think a dark brooding sci-fi will beat a family comedy over the rest of this holiday weekend.
The first Night at the Museum opened with only $30 million and that was before going on to earn over $574 million worldwide so there is no telling how high Battle of the Smithsonian will go with a three-day weekend that is likely to hit around $60+ million and then adding to that whatever it does on Memorial Day.
As for Terminator Salvation, it now sits at an estimated $28 million, including Thursday, and I am guessing will also hit in the $60 million range for the three-day making for a very tight race, but it may not live up to Warner Bros. studio expectations. However, Warner Bros. can be happy it will certainly take home more than the $44 million opening weekend of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. I would expect the final four-day (five-day for Terminator) grosses to end in the $70 millions for both films, lower end, if not high $60s for Terminator, and mid-$70s for Museum.
Between the two films Terminator has a better per-theater average as it was released in 3,530 theaters giving it a $4,205 per theater average while Museum opened in 4,096 theaters to the tune of $3,735 per theater.
The weekend's other new wide release was Paramount's spoof Dance Flick, which I have read many reviews actually say it has some laughs, yet it still only carries a 26% at RottenTomatoes. Then again, it isn't much worse than Terminator's 34% and Museum's 43%. Dance Flick went on to earn $3.9 million on Friday and will obviously not be a contender for the top spot with those other two heavyweights.
The complete list of Friday estimates are below. Laremy will be here on Sunday for the complete three-day recap and I will post an article on Monday with the complete holiday weekend results.
- Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – $15.3 million
- Terminator Salvation – $14.9 million
- Angels & Demons – $6.0 million
- Star Trek – $5.7 million
- Dance Flick – $3.9 million
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine – $2.1 million
- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – $1.1 million
- Obsessed – $575,000
- Monsters vs. Aliens – $280,000
- 17 Again – $270,000
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Terminator will be released this wednesday for Indonesia
Can`t wait….
Night at the Museum is just not a top tier franchise that does monster business on Memorial Holiday. I'm amazed there were many predicting 90+mil over 4-days for it, but only franchises with the pedigree Indy, Spidey, Pirates and Batman are capable of such an opening befitting a major holiday weekend. It'll be a longshot that this years Memorial Day will set a new record.
Nevertheless, I think it'll be:
1.NatM2: 55mil 3-day, 70mil 4-day
(This movie should've stayed with the Dec. release, or should've been released
a week ago alongside angels and demons)
2.Terminator S: 48 3-day, 62 4-day
well even though dance flick has a 24% at RT its a full 22% higher then disaster movie, it also had a better opening day by 2 million and will probably crack double digits over the 4 day
Hmmm… according to C.S. Stowbridge Terminator lost (but just barely.) I think his numbers are finals too.
Terminator $14.9M
Museum $15.2M
Well Terminator has worse reviews than Museum does. On that note are there any early prediciotns for how Up might do? It's gotten amazing reviews so far.
@tony: Right about $60M I'd say. It's been a year or so since a Pixar or Dreamworks CG release hasn't opened right around that level.
Wall-e, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Madagascar 2 all had openings within a few mil. of that area and in different times of the year.
I'm personally hoping for $75 (and the best pixar ever). This one looks a little more commercially friendly than Wall-e or Ratatouille, but early reviews suggest its not quite that good.
@Harry: Um, not really. Some reviews say it is the most deep Pixar has ever gone.
Anyway, good for Night at the Museum, poor for Terminator, bad for A&D and mild for ST, but that one should get a major boost today.
I'm personally more interested in the A+D war with Star Trek for third, Star Trek had managed to overtake A+D over the week but it looks like the weekend is telling a different story.
@Harry:
I'm hoping for an opening for "Up" in the $60 million dollar range too, but I feel that the film is actually LESS commercially friendly than the last two flicks. Think of it this way: pretend you're a 8 year old kid, what would you rather see: A movie about a cute robot flying through space, a movie about a cute mouse cooking food or a movie about an old man and a fat kid adventuring….somewhere?
That's the way I see it, but Pixar has never made a misstep, and they certainly won't make one next weekend.
Also "Drag Me To Hell"- $27 million. Has the hype of "The Strangers" from last year with the friendly PG13 rating, plus a fan following from Raimi's horror fans.
While Up! has mature themes, it is definitely more kid-friendly than Wall-E and Ratatouille, trust me, I was fortunate enough to see it already at an advance show here in Los Angeles. Dug the Dog, An over eager boy scout, a colorful bird, and a climactic aerial action sequence with biplanes, the floating house, and a giant blimp, it has it all for kids and adults to enjoy. The kids in the advance show ate it all up, and where buzzing like crazy afterwards on the way out. The reviews have been stellar so far, and critics were not off base when they claim that it's the funniest Pixar ever, since you definitely can make a great argument for it.
As for opening weekend, I'm thinking 65mil. However, it's opening in the same late May weekend that Nemo did back in 2003, so, who knows, it may have what it takes to break 70mil.
Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum 2 are opening at the lower end of expectations. Though both studios won't openly admit it, I have a feeling they're sorta bummed because they thought their respective films would open higher. All the talk was how this weekend is poised to shatter the existing Memorial Holiday weekend record grosses, and now that is pretty much down the toilet. This pretty much bodes to a 60+mil opening for Up next week
Had a big family get together this past mothers day, and all the kids went bananas when the Up! TV spot aired. They all crowded the TV screaming "I wanna see that, I wanna see that" etc.., and others ran to their parents and grandparents dragging them by the arm wanting to go to the theater already to see it.
I predict a 70mil opening weekend, and in all likelihood, break the Pixar opening weekend record-although it will only hold it for a year, because Toy Story 3 next year will open to a gargantuan 100mil plus.
"early reviews suggest its not quite that good."
What reviews were you reading?!?
What an underperforming Memorial Weekend B.O., especially since the hype going in was how it will challenge the existing record. Oh well, it just means good news for a certain major release next week.
@Will: Man i didn't think that was so controversial. What I meant was when Wall-e came out every review I read said, "Pixar betters itself again!" but with Up I'm just hearing its up to Pixar standards and only a few reviews are saying its as good as Wall-e.
What a measly summer season so far.
Through May, only Star Trek and the upcoming Up is destined to be above average to exemplary. The rest have been mediocre, and I don't see anything in June that will be as worthwhile as Star Trek and Up.
Woah, I thought T4 would beat Ben Stiller… Amy Adams rock!!!