User blog:Ceauntay/Friday Box Office: Warner Bros. 'Scooby-Doo! The Movie' Heading For $50 Million

Newcomers "Hop", "Source Code" and "Insidious" also tracking well in early results.

Early results show Warner Bros. ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' overperforming in its box office debut.

While it debut with $7.1 million from Thursday night previews, the film could gross as much as $28 million on Friday, based on strong matinee business, (18% of kids are out of school for spring break).

Some box office observers estimated that ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' would open in the low $60 million range; it looks now like it will do well more than that, and could go north of $70 million for the weekend. If so, it would be another win for Universal's animation footprint after Happy Feet surprised observers to open with $56 million in November 2006. Rival studios say Universal's aggressive marketing campaign is paying off, with tracking picking up in recent days. ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' wasn't the only new film doing well in early numbers. Universial's Hop, Summit Entertainment's Source Code and FilmDistrict's debut title Insidious were both performing in line with expectations, or better, by late Friday afternoon. Hop should make at least $30 million for the weekend, while Source Code should gross in the $15 million to $18 million range for the weekend, while Insidious should gross $8 million or more, a win since it was an acquisition. Fox's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was holding its own, despite family competition from Scooby-Doo! and should stay high up on the box office chart.