HOLLYWOOD - Pineapple Express (Sony), which opened to a spectacular $12.15M on Wednesday, suffered its expected Thursday buzz-kill, down about 50 percent, according to preliminary numbers. I am projecting an estimated $6.25M for day two of the Seth Rogen/James Franco marijuana-fueled comedy for a pre-weekend of $18.4M.
The mega-hit The Dark Knight (Warner Bros) appears to have received a slight up-tick from Wednesday, when Males Under 25 rushed out to see the Judd Apatow-produced Sony comedy. The Christopher Nolan-directed comic book adaptation scored an estimated $5.35M on Thursday, up about 5 percent from Wednesday. This sets up a heated battle for the traditional three-day weekend box office crown.
My usual sources and I have arrived at the conclusion that Pineapple Express could top $11M on Friday, leading to a five-day of $47M and a three-day of $28.7M or so, compared to the Caped Crusader's $8.1M fourth Friday, which would likely translate to a three-day of just over $27M. If Pineapple Express gets that high, it would mean a three-day weekend upset of The Dark Knight.
Meanwhile, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (Warner Bros) appears to have followed up its $5.7M opening day with a Thursday of $2.9M or so. That puts the female-skewing sequel on track for a $17.1M three-day and a very healthy five-day of $25M, ahead of The Mummy 3 (Universal), which is beginning to struggle.
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