Friday box-office estimates show things are looking good for Real Steel, coming in with $8.5 million and a shot at $26 million by the end of the weekend.
This isn’t much of a surprise as everyone knew this flick would take #1, but by how much was the bigger question and whether or not it could hit $30+ million seeing how a new film hasn’t cracked that number since Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened back in early August. Looks like that won’t be happening this week either.
Second place isn’t much of a surprise either as George Clooney‘s political thriller The Ides of March brought home an estimated $3.4 million and should finish the weekend just barely cracking double digits. This is a film that could be helped by some good word of mouth and considering Clooney gathered this cast together for the sum of a reported $12.5 million it could turn out to be a big success.
What I like most about these numbers is that it helps when I ask questions such as how did it cost $60 million to make Contagion or $30 million to make Midnight in Paris if Clooney can get a film starring not only himself but Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright and Evan Rachel Wood made for so little dough?
Of course, Ides received a $1.2-million Ohio motion picture tax credit and nearly $5 million in Michigan film incentives, which scratched a little over $6 million off its bottom line, but that still means it was able to be made for less than $20 million if you add those rebates back in.
The final eight slots are held by holdover features and most are performing as would be expected. Check out the Friday estimates for the top ten below and I will be back on Sunday with a complete wrap-up.
- Real Steel – $8.5 million
- The Ides Of March – $3.4 million
- Dolphin Tale – $2.4 million
- Moneyball – $2.2 million
- 50/50 – $1.7 million
- Courageous – $1.4 million
- Dream House – $1.3 million
- The Lion King 3D – $1.2 million
- What’s Your Number? – $1 million
- Abduction – $850,000
