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May 12, 2012
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY EARLY FRIDAY BOXOFFICE REPORT

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Written by: Mitch Salem
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THE AVENGERS, having trampled over the opening weekend record, will easily take its second weekend in a row.  According to Deadline, it’s heading for a $29M Friday, the highest 2d Friday ever, and it should easily eclipse the Weekend 2 record currently held by Avatar with $75.6M.  Disney is estimating a $100M weekend, which seems a little high (that would be a 3.45x Friday multiple for the weekend, compared to the 3.15x multiple Hunger Games had in its 2d weekend a couple of months ago), but this weekend could be skewed by a Mother’s Day bump on Sunday.  In any case, Avengers looks to be no lower than $90M for the weekend, which shouldn’t make anyone at Disney weep too much.


The same can’t be said for Warners, where DARK SHADOWS is laying a vampiric egg.  With a $10.5M Friday, and unenthusiastic word of mouth (B- among the opening night audiences polled), it’ll probably have a $25-28M weekend, dismal for a movie with a $125M budget (meaning $250M with marketing).

Nothing else in the market was even close, although THE HUNGER GAMES looks like it will only drop 25% on its 8th Friday in release, pushing its total after this weekend to the high $380Ms and flirting with the possibility of stretching to $400M at the domestic boxoffice.

In limited release, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL seems to be having a robust expansion, heading for a weekend average of $15K or so in 178 theatres.



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."