Friday Numbers: Contraband - 8.7M; Beauty and the Beast 3D - 5.6M; Joyful Noise - 3.3M

[CJohn]

FRIDAY 11:30 PM, 2ND UPDATE: Bigger numbers are starting to come in for this Martin Luther King 4-day holiday weekend which is looking like the 2nd best ever with $165M overall moviegoing, or +9% over last year. The most important news is that there’s no sign of a 2012 box office slump — yet. Hollywood is very encouraged by these North American grosses so far. Both Universal’s Contraband and Warner Bros’ Joyful Noise earned ‘A-’ CinemaScores from audiences which is one reason both films are far exceeding Hollywood predictions for their openings. One note for you snarksters: Paramount’s The Devil Inside, which took big top honors last weekend, fell -84% from last Friday to this Friday and maybe -78% week to week because of word-of-mouth related to that ’F’ CinemaScore. As one rival studio exec told me tonight: “The drop could better depending on the late night moron crowd.”

1. Contraband (Universal) NEW [2,863 Theaters]

Friday $9M, 3-Day Weekend $25M, 4-Day Holiday $30M

2. Beauty And The Beast 3D (Disney) NEW [2,625 Theaters]

Friday $5.5M, 3-Day Weekend $18.5M, 4-Day Holiday $25.6M

3. Joyful Noise (Warner Bros) NEW [2,863 Theaters]

Friday $3.8M, 3-Day Weekend $12.3M, 4-Day Holiday $14.8M

4. Mission: Impossible 4 (Paramount) Week 5 [3,346 Theaters]

Friday $3.5M, 3-Day Weekend $12.1M, 4-Day Holiday $14.6M, Est Cume $189.9M

5. The Devil Inside (Paramount) Week 2 [2,551 Theaters]

Friday $2.6M (-84%), 3-Day Weekend $7.5M, 4-Day Holiday $8.7M, Est Cume $47.1M

6. Sherlock Holmes 2 (Warner Bros) Week 5 [3,155 Theater]

Friday $2.5M, 3-Day Weekend $8.8M, 4-Day Holiday $10.6M, Est Cume $172.2M

7. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Sony) Week 4 [2,674 Theaters]

Friday $2.1M, 3-Day Weekend $7.3M, 4-Day Holiday $8.8M, Est Cume $90M

8. The Iron Lady (Weinstein Co) Week 3 [802 Theaters]

Friday $1.5M, 3-Day Weekend $5.3M, 4-Day Holiday $6.3M, Est Cume $6.9M

9. War Horse (DreamWorks/Disney) Week 4 [2,856 Theaters]

Friday $1.5M, 3-Day Weekend $5.5M, $6.696 4-Day Holiday $6.7M, Est Cume $66.9M

10. We Bought A Zoo (Fox) Week 4 [2,585 Theaters]

Friday $1.3M, 3-Day Weekend $5.6M, 4-Day Holiday $7.3M, Est Cume $65.8M

From THR: http://www.hollywood...ul-noise-281716

Box Office Report: 'Contraband,' 'Beauty,' 'Joyful' off to Solid Start

Headlining Mark Wahlberg, Universal's action-thriller "Contraband" is leading the box office; Meryl Streep awards contender "The Iron Lady" makes major push.

A trio of new pics hoping to benefit from the four-day Martin Luther King were whipping up good business on Friday, with Contraband pulling ahead to take the No. 1 position.

Starring Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale, Universal's Contraband could debut to a pleasing $24 million to $25 million for the four days, according to early projections. That's ahead of expectations.

Contraband, an English-language remake of the 2009 Icelandic film, was produced by Universal and Working Title for a modest $25 million. Baltasar Kormakur--who starred in the original movie--makes his feature directorial debut with the update. Relativity Media is a financing partner on Contraband.

Disney's 3D re-release of classic toon Beauty and the Beast took the No. 2 position on Friday, and is now expected to gross $20 million to $22 million over the long weekend. Again, that's more than tracking had suggested (and if family business is especially good on Saturday and Sunday, it could earn even more).

Beauty and the Beast won't be able to match the $30 million opening posted by the 3D re-release of the The Lion King last year. That's due in part to the fact that Beauty and the Beast appeals more to girls than boys. Still, it's an important test for Disney, which is aggressively mining its library and re-releasing classic titles.

Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment's Joyful Noise, headlining Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton as two competing church choir directors, is expected to gross $16 million to $17 million for the four days.

Joyful Noise was fully financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment, the Warners Bros.-based company that made box office hit The Blind Side. Like many of many Alcon's films, Joyful Noise was made with faith-based audiences in mind. It cost under $30 million to produce.

Elsewhere at the box office, the Weinstein Co.'s awards contender The Iron Lady made a major push on Friday, upping its theater count from five theaters to more than 800. The move appears to be paying off. Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, should gross between $5.5 million and $7 million for the four days.

Paramount's micro-budgeted exorcism pic The Devil Inside, which energized the box office last weekend when opening to a record-breaking $33.7 million, should see a sizable drop-off if other horror films are any indication.

Edited January 14, 2012 by CJohn

[CJohn]

From DHD:

Contraband (Universal) NEW – Friday $7M, 4-Day Holiday $28M

Beauty And The Beast 3D (Disney) NEW – Friday $5M, 4-Day Holiday $23M

Joyful Noise (Warner Bros) NEW – Friday $4M, 4-Day Holiday $16M

MOTHER OF GOD!

Edited January 14, 2012 by CJohn

[Travod]

Sounds like a great weekend

[Biggestgeekever]

2012 is rocking it so far.

[John Marston]

Is that good for Batb

[RichWS]

Great numbers for all three films.

[ky02121]

Joyful Noise

[kyky]

i hope contraband breaking out is not gonna affect MI4 too much.

[Biggestgeekever]

i hope contraband breaking out is not gonna affect MI4 too much.

Contraband is R-rated, so it shouldn't. We may see a sneak-in effect that benefits MI4, in fact.

[Impact]

WHOA! Was not expecting that.

[The Dark Alfred]

So much for the market to affect TDKR lol

[DAR]

Is that good for Batb

I'd say it is.

[CoolioD1]

Yeah, that's good for all the openers. Marky Mark power!!!

[CJohn]

Contraband and BatB both over 20M on 4 days. It may well be enough to beat last year's MLK weekend. And also, it may be enough to ensure an increase from January 2011 to January 2012 overall.

Edited January 14, 2012 by CJohn

[fishstick]

Yeah, that's good for all the openers. Marky Mark power!!!

Lol, wut? It`s Beckinsale all the way. What a month she`s going to have!

[CJohn]

Definitly a big month for Beckinsale, and a good return of Mark Walhberg.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Yeah, good for all the openers, but who cares about them? I wanna see how badly TDI plummeted.

[The Dark Alfred]

I want MI4 and TDI numbers.

[fishstick]

And I want BD1 numbers.

[FilmBuff]

BATB-20 Million for a 20 year old film? :oNever did I think another Disney 3D film would be successful, TLK notwithstanding.