User blog:Ceauntay/Friday Box Office: Fox's 'Rio' Flies High on Good Friday With at Least $10.5 Million

UPDATED: Fox scores second win of the day with the Reese Witherspoon-Robert Pattinson film, "Water for Elephants"; Lionsgate's "Madea" pulls in roughly $10 million.

Good Friday turned out to be an excellent day for 20th Century Fox, with 3D toon Rio continuing to soar and period circus romance Water for Elephants off to a better-than-expected start. Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Lionsgate turned in a solid performance with Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family. (See how Fast Five and Thor are faring in the international box office.) Madea earned an A CinemaScore; Elephants, an A-. Thanks to hordes of kids being out of school for the Easter holiday, Rio grossed an estimated $10.5 million to $11 million — ahead of the $10.4 million it earned last Friday, its opening day. The 3D toon is on track to win the weeekend, with a projected gross of at least $27 million. Madea came in No. 2 for the day behind Rio, grossing an estimated $10 million. The sixth installment in the Tyler Perry franchise has a good shot at grossing $25 million for the weekend, in line with Lionsgate’s expectations. Fox 2000’s Water for Elephants — starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz—was the big surprise of the day, opening north of $7 million. Heading into the weekend, Fox 2000’s Water for Elephants was projected to post an opening weekend gross of between $13 million to $15 million. But in light of Friday’s take, the period drama should open higher, and possibly $18 million. Water, based on the bestselling book by Sara Gruen, has been gaining momentum in recent days, particularly among younger females, and has every chance now of doing more business. The film’s strongest demo, according to tracking, is older women.

Warner Bros. ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' is also doing quite some business on great Friday making in $4.9 million for a day giving it a total to about in the low-$10 million range falling mid-50 percent for a No. 4 spot, and should ended up with at least $265 million. Universal’s Hop also was having a great Friday, thanks to so many kids being out of school for spring break and Easter weekend. The CGI/live-action hybrid, directed by Tim Hill, looked to gross roughly $4.8 for the day to come in No. 5. The family film should jump the $100 million mark by Sunday. Disney’s documentary African Cats, released in celebration of Earth Day, came in a pleasing No. 5, grossing north of $3 million. The film debuted in more than 1,000 theaters. Good Friday is turning out to be excellent for the movie business, with Rio continuing to soar and new entry Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family off to a solid start.