Wiki News/Early Friday Box-Office Numbers Don't Bode Well for 'Losers' and 'Back-Up Plan'

It's starting to look like the RopeofSilicon Box-Office Oracle, Laremy Legel, made the right call with a weekend box-office that wasn't too easy to predict. Nikki Finke's early Friday estimates show the new Jennifer Lopez romantic-comedy The Back-Up Plan edging out How To Train Your Dragon for the Friday win, though it will likely fall to #2 as Dragon will take the kid-friendly weekend dollars.

The Back-Up Plan currently stands with an estimated $4 million for Friday, which should translate to an even $12 million while Dragon's $3.6 million should go up-up-up as the kids and their parents hit the multiplexes over the weekend. Should you doubt that assertion, certainly trends are trends for a reason. Last weekend Dragon earned $4.4 million on Friday to take in $15.2 million on Saturday and Sunday combined, making a $12 million Saturday and Sunday prediction this weekend sound about right. And finally, Disney's North Pole Elementary: The Movie still cracks over it's box office making in $3.4 million, and should make over between $8 and $10 million by Sunday and it should be over it's total between $75 or $77 million at the box office.

Currently slotted in third is the weekend's other competitor for the top spot, Warner's new feature The Losers, though it appears to have excited audiences even less than last weekend's comic adaptation, Kick-Ass. Finke currently has The Losers estimated for a $3.3 million Friday and approximately $9 million for the weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if it manages $10 million, but it's going to be a stretch and that also puts it into competition for that third slot with Fox's Date Night in its third weekend after the Tina Fey and Steve Carell comedy brought in an estimated $3.2 million on Friday.

So what about Kick-Ass? Last week's #1 by the slimmest of margins. Well, it's pulling up in fifth place, where it will most likely finish. Finke has it estimated at $2.8 million on Friday and an estimated $8.3 million for the weekend, which would bring its two week cume to $33.5 million. The film has currently raked in $42.7 million worldwide on a reported budget of $30 million, though those numbers change depending on what stories you read. I expect the release of The Losers this weekend didn't do the film any favors, neither did it's R-rating. However, I expect it will do well on DVD and Blu-ray and the independently produced film should end up in the black once all things are said and done. But I'm not sure it sets a glowing precident for producing your own obscure, R-rated comic book feature and hoping for big dollars, which is actually too bad.

The DisneyNature release of Oceans is currently in seventh with an estimated $2 million on Friday and an expected $6-7 million for the weekend.

I have included the full list of Finke's early numbers below, but remember they will fluctuate a bit up-and-down once official estimates are released, at which time I will update this article. For now, here's what we have…

1.The Back-Up Plan – $4 million 2.How to Train Your Dragon – $3.6 million 3.The Losers – $3.3 million 4.Date Night – $3.2 million 5.Kick-Ass – $2.8 million 6.Death at a Funeral – $2.2 million 7.Oceans – $2 million 8.Clash of the Titans – $1.9 million 9.The Last Song – $1.1 million