Fantasy Moguls Original Content: EARLY FRIDAY & 3-DAY ESTIMATES: 'Ratatouille' with only the 6th-best Pixar opening w/$16.5M Fri - $48.5M 3-day; 'Die Hard 4' w/$29M 3-day and $44M 5-day; 'Sicko' strong, but not 'Fahre

EARLY FRIDAY & 3-DAY BOX OFFICE ESTIMATES

'Ratatouille' with only the 6th-best Pixar opening w/$16.5M Fri - $48.5M 3-day; 'Die Hard 4' w/$29M 3-day and $44M 5-day; 'Sicko' strong, but not 'Fahrenheit

"The other new release was Evening from Focus Features, which debuted with lukewarm-to-negative reviews at 977 locations. Despite a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson and Claire Danes, this one will not be hanging around the multiplex very long after a $1.1M Friday and a likely 3-day of $3.5M."

"I decided to generate Friday and 3-day estimates for the top 14 movies because there are some interesting stories, most notably, the disastrous performance of A Mighty Heart (Paramount Vantage) starring Angelina Jolie. In just its second weekend, on 1,350 screens, this grim, but perfectly-executed biopic managed only $525,000 to start the weekend. It’s 3-day will probably be a meager $1.75M, down 56%. Heart is a dismal failure as summer counter-programming, and it would have almost certainly been far more successful during awards season.