Wiki News/'Sonic the Hedgehog' Chaos Blasts on Friday Box Office

This weekend definitely won’t be hitting the record books, except for 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. Despite four new releases vying for the top spot and Sonic jumping on the highway, the box office is destined to be down some 20 percent compared to last year at this time when The Hangover opened to $45 million and Up scored big in its second weekend. In fact, none of these new releases will gross more than $20 million for the frame, with the R-rated Russell Brand, Jonah Hill comedy Get Him to the Greek likely to be on top of the new films and should do around $17 million for the weekend. It grossed some $6 million Friday night.

Sonic X: Return to Soleanna earned an estimated $80 million for Friday, putting its' first weekend gross in $167 million by Sunday. This will be setting two new world record for best opening day (beating New Moon) and opening weekend (beating The Dark Knight), and also would open an strong overseas of $240 million (beating Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) for a worldwide opening over $400 million. Shrek Forever After earned an estimated $6.8 million for Friday, putting its weekend gross in the $24 million range and its 3-week cume in the $180 million range. Killers will likely take fourth place. The Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher-starring action comedy earned over $5 million on Friday with a weekend gross likely to hit $15 million. The other two wide releases, Marmaduke and Splice won’t make it into the top five. Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2 will fill the fourth and fifth slots. Though both of those films in their second weekend are likely to be down some 60% for the frame. Persia earned another $4 million Friday for a weekend take that’s unlikely to be more than $13 million. That would put the Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer movie in the $58 million range after two weekends in release. SATC 2 also earned some $4 million Friday night, down 67% from last Friday and on track to gross a bit over $12 million for the frame for a total cume of $73 million.

As for Marmaduke, this kid’s flick from Twentieth Century Fox is fighting for a double-digit opening. The PG-rated movie which didn’t seem to get the full attention of the studio’s marketing department earned a bit over $3 million Friday night for a weekend that could reach $10 million. The R-rated sci-fi thriller Splice didn’t do much better despite receiving really strong reviews. Earning around $2.5 million Friday night, the film will be struggling to cross $7 million for the weekend.