User blog:Ceauntay/Box office update: 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 2' scares bigtime with $21.5 million Friday

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 easily scored first place at the box office on Friday, earning $21.5 million, the biggest opening day for a horror film yet. The $40 million film could possible reach the $50 million mark by Sunday, which will be the biggest opening of the year since Oz, the Great and Powerful and the biggest opening for horror film since Friday the 13th in 2009.

Debuting in second place is Michael Bay's Pain & Gain to $7.5 million. Paramount’s $26 million R-rated film, which stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, may take in about $21 million (in line with predictions) over the full weekend frame. In third place, Tom Cruise’s sci-fi adventure Oblivion, which topped the chart last weekend with $37.1 million, dropped 62 percent from its opening day to $5.1 million, putting it on pace for a weekend in the $17.5 million range. The $120 million Universal film’s lackluster “B-” CinemaScore helps explain its hefty second weekend drop, though it will have amassed a solid $65 million by Sunday night. Baseball drama 42 batted up another $3 million on its fourth Friday, and it should score about $10.5 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period, which would give it about $69 million total. While that’s a great result for the $40 million film, 42 isn’t exhibiting the legs that most prognosticators expected it would given its “A+” CinemaScore.

GET EW ON YOUR TABLET: Subscribe today and get instant access! The combined appeal of Susan Sarandon, Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, and Katharine Heigl didn’t help Lionsgate’s $35 million romantic comedy The Big Wedding on its opening day. The poorly reviewed film grossed only $2.5 million on Friday, rounding out the top five and may have to settle for an awful $7.5 million debut. Check back tomorrow for the full box office report, and for more box office conversation, follow me on Twitter @gradywsmith.
 * 1) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 $21.5 million
 * 2) Pain & Gain – $7.5 million
 * 3) Oblivion – $5.1 million
 * 4) 42 – $3 million
 * 5) The Big Wedding – $2.5 million