Friday Report: 'Taken 2,' 'Sinister' Lead on Friday

Friday Report: 'Taken 2,' 'Sinister' Lead on Friday

Because of a quirk in the reporting procedure, nobody know exactly which film took #1 on Friday. Box Office Mojo sums up the controversy as follows:

"Sinister claimed the top spot with an estimated $7.45 million on its opening day. However, around $1 million of that gross came from midnight and Thursday night shows. The midnight gross counts towards Friday, but the Thursday figure should not. Unfortunately, Summit has decided not to break out the Thursday figure, therefore we're left guessing whether the movie's actual Friday gross was above or below Taken's $7 million."

Either way, Sinister outperformed expectations. It was not expected to contend for the top spot, which was supposed to be a showdown between Argo and Taken. Taken performed about as expected, while Argo came up a hair short.

Despite the solid (if polluted) Friday, Sinister is expected to fall back. Mojo says: "It only received a "C+" CinemaScore, and Summit is expecting the movie to wind up at $17.5 million for the three-day frame (which should only be good for third or fourth place)."

Here's Mojo's take on the other newcomers:

"Way down in ninth place, Seven Psychopaths debuted to a terrible estimated $1.36 million at 1,480 locations. To emphasize just how bad that is, the per-theater average of $919 was a fraction lower than that of notorious flop Shoot 'Em Up ($925) on its opening day. The movie is at least receiving decent word-of-mouth (B+ CinemaScore, up to A- with audiences under 25), but this is just too low a point from which to gain any traction.

Seven Psychopaths did perform better than Atlas Shrugged: Part II, which tanked with just $692,000 at 1,012 locations. The movie should crack $2 million for the three-day weekend, which is only a bit ahead of its predecessor's $1.69 million start in less than one-third the number of theaters."