Box Office - 'Karate Kid' Destroys 'A-Team' on Friday

For the first time all summer, a movie has outperformed its projections at the box office, even if it is for just one day. However, based on the positive vibes it's received from critics in a lot of cases and how well it hits the target for family audiences, I don't expect Friday to be the anomaly. The Karate Kid is pacing at about 200% its industry estimates for the weekend after a Friday take of $19 million. That's the best day of the season for any movie not named Shrek Forever After or Iron Man 2, and since family movies tend to do better on Saturdays because there are more opportunities to see them, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Karate Kid could manage $50 - $55 million this weekend. We've been waiting for a non-tentpole film to establish itself as one of the big deals of summer, and it's finally happened. How well the movie will play with Toy Story 3 opening seven days later remains to be seen, but at least The Karate Kid will make more than people thought it would, and that's the only movie this summer you can say that about. How about The A-Team, which we predicted to best Karate Kid by a few million and end up in the low-30s for the weekend? It probably won't get there, but a near-$10 million opening day should mean a $26 - $30 million start, and that's not bad, either, but more in line with what other movies this summer have done. It's certainly not going to make up all the ground between it and Karate Kid, though. Shrek will take third place this weekend after a three-week run at the top, crossing $200 million in the process. While it won't be as big a hit as any of the other movies in the franchise, considering where it started, this is quite a recovery. Iron Man 2 hopes hit $300 million this weekend, but that may wait until Monday or Tuesday. I'm not sure it will beat the predecessor, though, at least in US dollars. Kind of a surprise there.

Comments

[Honz Brix]

I give up! None of the numbers this summer make any sense to me. I guess thats what makes predicting box office numbers so interesting though

[chad]

saw it coming it just looked good in the trailers it even won me over and i hate remakes

[SEAN]

yay! Im happy about this, it looked great in the trailer, im happy its doing well