Box Office - 'Wild Things' Eats Up Big Friday

Last weekend, we told you about a record-breaking performance by Couples Retreat that was so specific it barely counts as anything: Best live-action comedy opening day in October. Now there's another one along the same lines. Where the Wild Things Are pushed $11.9 million worth of tickets on Friday to secure the highest-grossing October opening day ever for live-action PG-rated movie. A coveted honor, no doubt. While it's great that the movie did so well on Friday, let's remember that it's being released in over 3,700 theaters. That's within 10% or so of the summer blockbusters, so when we look at the final numbers this weekend - we projected low-to-mid-$30 millions and that seems about right - remember that this will have a wider opening than all but nine movies released so far this year. But if that's number one, what will finish in second place? It appears to be Law Abiding Citizen. I sent a Tweet last night alluding to the fact that we were seeing a lot more traffic here at The Big Picture for our Citizen review than even Wild Things, and I wondered if that had any meaning. It does. It means people are checking out the Jamie Foxx-Gerard Butler movie in pretty healthy numbers, so much so that it nearly grabbed as much in its entire weekend estimate on one day. Currently, the film has $7.6 million in its stack of chips, which could mean a weekend take of nearly $20 million. That's a good weekend in this case. Paranormal Activity could still wrest away second place, but it's doubtful the movie will drop below third. A $6.8 million Friday pushed the tiny horror movie over $20 million, meaning a $30 million gross after this weekend is all but inevitable. Couples Retreat dropped to fourth and The Stepfather sits well behind the competition in fifth place.