Aside from one incredibly-successful major release, the domestic box office has been a rough place to launch a movie for the past month or so. No studio has had a tougher time than Universal, of course – the home of The Five-Year Engagement and the big-time bomb known as Battleship. So color the folks at Universal ecstatic that their latest release, Snow White and the Huntsman, is looking like a hit. Huntsman brought in an estimated $20.3 million from 3,773 locations on Friday, including $1.38 million in midnight grosses. That beats the $17.6 million that Men in Black 3 earned last Friday: a feat made more impressive by Huntsman’s two-dimensional/non-sequel limitations. Projections now point to a weekend in the $55 million range. That’s a bit above where long-term tracking had Snow White a few weeks back and well above the $38 million hedge that Universal started circulating in the wake of Battleship. So now the studio gets to claim a first place finish and the headline “Universal beats expectations.” It should make for a refreshing change of pace. Details and top-ten analysis tomorrow.
Title
Friday
Total
1
Snow White & the Huntsman
$20,300,000
$20.3
2
Men in Black 3
$8,300,000
$91.3
3
The Avengers
$5,370,000
$538.1
4
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
$1,500,000
$27.7
5
The Dictator
$1,400,000
$47.5
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