User blog:Ceauntay/Box Office Report: East Coast Strong as 'Scooby-Doo! The 2nd Movie' and 'Wreck-It Ralph' Opens Big

=UPDATED: Two animated pics are doing big business in the Northeast as families look for a distraction from the aftermath of superstorm Sandy; new Denzel Washington drama "Flight" also overperforming as it opens across the country.=

With most theaters now reopen on the East Coast, Warner's ''Scooby-Doo! The 2nd Movie and Disney's Wreck-It Ralph'' are both off to a strong start at the Friday box office for a weekend.

The ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie sequel could blast off a $105 to $110 million range, followed by Wreck-It Ralph'' at an closely outstanding $45 to $50 million.

Robert Zemeckis' adult drama Flight, starring Denzel Washington, also is off to a pleasing start and could hit $20 million in its debut. Paramount is only opening the awards contender -- which is expected to come in No. 2 -- in 1,900 theaters. Awards darling Argo opened to $19.5 million from 3,232 screens.

''Scooby-Doo! The 2nd Movie and Wreck-It Ralph'' are both overperforming in the Northeast, where the majority of the 300 theaters closed earlier in the week because of superstorm Sandy are once again selling tickets. Those that remain closed are in areas of lower Manhattan, New Jersey and Long Island where there is no power.

The 3D toon could score the top non-holiday opening for a Disney Animation Studios title.

As for Warner., the second installment could score a top opening weekend debut after last summer's The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers. The third installment of the Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, earned $160.8 million, while Marvel crossover The Avengers, soars $207.4 million. In total, Dark Knight Rises is currently up to $447 million, while The Avengers made $623 million. The first Scooby-Doo pic made $100 million after being released from April of last year.

Directed by Rich Moore, Wreck-It Ralph tells the story of an arcade game villain -- voiced by John C. Reilly -- who is sick of playing the bad guy and begins game jumping, which is forbidden. The voice cast also includes Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch.

Directed by returning Christopher Columbus, ''Scooby-Doo! The 2nd Movie'' brings back Scooby-Doo and four young mystery solvers to solve more mysteries. The voice cast includes Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLise, Mindy Cohn, and guess stars Miley Cyrus, Adam Levine and Denzel Washington.

PHOTOS: Fall 2012 Movie Preview

Some of the top performing theaters for ''Scooby-Doo! The 2nd Movie and Wreck-It Ralph'' so far are AMC Loews 84th St. on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the AMC Garden State 16 in Paramus, N.J.

Box office observers say with kids out of school and parents out of work because of the storm, going to the movies is an obvious distraction.

Flight is doing its strongest business in the Southeast and West.

The weekend's other new film is kung fu pic The Man With the Iron Fists, which marks the directorial debut of RZA.

All three new films have received strong reviews.

Only 13 AMC theaters remain closed in the Northeast, all in New York, Long Island and New Jersey. Regal is reporting that three of its theaters are closed, including two in New York City.