Friday Report: 'Hotel Transylvania' Tops Box Office
After a month of consistently awful box office, audiences came back to the movies on Friday for Hotel Transylvania and Looper. Pitch Perfect also did great business in limited release, though not everything was sunshine and rainbows: Won't Back Down performed terribly, and is on track for one of the worst openings of the year.
Hotel Transylvania debuted to an estimated $11 million yesterday, which tops Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ($8.1 million) for best opening day ever for a fully-animated Sony Pictures Animation movie (though it does lag a bit behind The Smurfs' $13.3 million). Using Cloudy as a comparison (since it opened around the same time), Hotel Transylvania could be in line for over $40 million this weekend; Sony is being a bit more modest with a $38 million projection. Regardless, the movie is well-positioned to top Sweet Home Alabama's $35.6 million to claim a new record for a September opening weekend.
In second place, Looper grossed an estimated $6.9 million on its opening day. That's up on Source Code and Surrogates (both at $5.05 million) among similar sci-fi movies, though it's still less than half the opening of TriStar's 2009 sci-fi hit District 9 ($14.2 million). Looper should wind up with around $20 million for the three-day frame.
Last weekend's winner End of Watch fell 48 percent to $2.4 million for a new total of $20.6 million. House at the End of The Street dropped 50 percent to $2.33 million, while Trouble with the Curve rounded out the Top Five with $2.3 million (off 45 percent). Those two movies have now earned $17.4 million and $18.5 million, respectively.
In only 335 locations, Pitch Perfect took sixth place with an estimated $1.75 million on Friday. It should get close to $5 million for the weekend, which puts it in a really strong position ahead of its October 5th nationwide expansion.
In eight place, Won't Back Down debuted to an atrocious $921,000 from 2,515 locations. It will earn around $3 million this weekend, which will be one of the worst debuts ever for a movie in 2,500 or more theaters.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo, and follow author Ray Subers at @raysubers.
Related Stories:
• Forecast: 'Looper' Likely to Lose to 'Hotel Transylvania' This Weekend
Related Chart:
• Grosses for Friday, September 28, 2012
Hotel Transylvania debuted to an estimated $11 million yesterday, which tops Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ($8.1 million) for best opening day ever for a fully-animated Sony Pictures Animation movie (though it does lag a bit behind The Smurfs' $13.3 million). Using Cloudy as a comparison (since it opened around the same time), Hotel Transylvania could be in line for over $40 million this weekend; Sony is being a bit more modest with a $38 million projection. Regardless, the movie is well-positioned to top Sweet Home Alabama's $35.6 million to claim a new record for a September opening weekend.
In second place, Looper grossed an estimated $6.9 million on its opening day. That's up on Source Code and Surrogates (both at $5.05 million) among similar sci-fi movies, though it's still less than half the opening of TriStar's 2009 sci-fi hit District 9 ($14.2 million). Looper should wind up with around $20 million for the three-day frame.
Last weekend's winner End of Watch fell 48 percent to $2.4 million for a new total of $20.6 million. House at the End of The Street dropped 50 percent to $2.33 million, while Trouble with the Curve rounded out the Top Five with $2.3 million (off 45 percent). Those two movies have now earned $17.4 million and $18.5 million, respectively.
In only 335 locations, Pitch Perfect took sixth place with an estimated $1.75 million on Friday. It should get close to $5 million for the weekend, which puts it in a really strong position ahead of its October 5th nationwide expansion.
In eight place, Won't Back Down debuted to an atrocious $921,000 from 2,515 locations. It will earn around $3 million this weekend, which will be one of the worst debuts ever for a movie in 2,500 or more theaters.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo, and follow author Ray Subers at @raysubers.
Related Stories:
• Forecast: 'Looper' Likely to Lose to 'Hotel Transylvania' This Weekend
Related Chart:
• Grosses for Friday, September 28, 2012
