User blog:Ceauntay/'Sonic' Makes $52 million at Friday Box-Office

As expected, newcomer Sonic X: The Final Stand will ended up being the top of the box office as it brought in $57 million on Friday, which is now the highest single day gross for an animated film beating Toy Story 3's $41 million.

It will be giving its estimated weekend total to $125 million matching ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie's'' $114 million to become the biggest opening of the year. It will also break five box office records, except being the second highest May opening behind Spider-Man 3's $151 million. It's weekend total will also be going up ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which also made $125 million in its weekend opening last November to become the sixth biggest opening of all-time.

In its second weekend, Thor suffered to an estimated $9.1 million on Friday on its way to a $30-32 million weekend, which would signal a 51% drop after last weekend's $65.7 million take. It will also become the fifth film this year to crack the $100 million mark this year. I haven't looked, but perhaps this will be a fun task for you in the comments… How many films will likely crack the $100 million mark this year? In 2010 there were 30 films, in 2009 there were 32 and in 2008 there were 29. So obviously the best guess is to say around 30 based on recent years, but which ones? In third is the first of the weekend's newcomers, Universal's Bridesmaids, which scored an estimated $7.8 million on Friday and will likely end the weekend around $25 million, which should make Laremy happy since estimates have his predictions off to a pretty good start. I'm curious, though, to find out how well Bridesmaids will hold on. Looking back at a few Judd Apatow-produced films, The 40-Year-Old Virgin opened with $21.4 million, Knocked Up opened with $30.6 and Step Brothers opened with $30.9 million and all went on to make over $100 million. With a reported B+ CinemaScore I wonder if Bridesmaids will have the buzz necessary to reach that mark as well. The week's other newcomer, Priest, which I was not invited to screen, pulled in an estimated $5.6 million from 2,864 theaters. This should translate to approximately $15 million for the weekend, which may not be enough for a film budgeted at a reported $60 million, though I imagine these are the kinds of videogame-targeted films that do quite well on DVD and Blu-ray. Business should boom in the overseas markets as well. Otherwise, the complete Friday estimates are listed below and I will be back here on Sunday with a complete wrap up. However, since I am in Cannes, I can't promise it will be posted at its normal time around 10 AM PST or so. It will all depend on my Cannes screening schedule, so let me apologize now if I end up posting it a little late.
 * 1) Sonic X: The Final Stand - $57.1 million
 * 2) Thor – $9.1 million
 * 3) Bridesmaids – $7.8 million
 * 4) Fast Five – $5.9 million
 * 5) Priest – $5.6 million
 * 6) Something Borrowed – $2.3 million
 * 7) Jumping the Broom – $2 million
 * 8) Rio – $1.6 million
 * 9) Water For Elephants – $1.1 million
 * 10) Scooby-Doo! The Movie - $627,000