Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson brought ample gravitas to Snitch in helping power it to the top of the North American box office on Friday on its debut day. Comedy box office sensation Identity Thief placed a close second on Friday and stands poised to surpass Snitch for box office bragging rights by the time Sunday’s numbers are reported.
Opening at 2,511 locations, Snitch drummed up $4.14 million business on the same weekend of the Oscars and should finish the three-day frame somewhere between $10 and $13 million barring a miraculous drop off in attendance. That would be an acceptable opening for Johnson’s most recent foray into strictly male-targeted fare. He’s had better luck with wider appealing and family films the past few years than the straight testosterone flicks – not counting the Fast & Furious franchise that runs on its own established engine.
Identity Thief is now the favorite to win the weekend entering its third week of release after coming in a hair below Snitch on Friday with $4.1 million. Expect Identity Thief to wrap the weekend between $12 and $15 million and in first place, a pretty dismal showing for the state of the current box office considering it didn’t win last weekend.
Third place went to Relativity’s Safe Haven with $3.5 million. It has now earned $41 million to date after just 9 days of release. Expect it to cross $50 million by early next week.
Coming in fourth was the alien invasion film Dark Skies that left a dark cloud over the struggling genre after a pitiful debut of $3.1 million. It’s now an extremely long shot for Dark Skies to reach $10 million for the weekend. Look for a quick appearance on Blu-ray and DVD where the Sci-fi flick should fare slightly better.
Wrapping the top five was last week’s champ, A Good Day to Die Hard, which suffered a huge drop with only $2.8 million Friday to become this weekend’s chump. At $44.6 million and audiences drying up faster than Bruce Willis can crack a new one-liner, the future of the Die Hard franchise looks to rest in the hands of the foreign box office. North American moviegoers have all but written it off.
Be sure to check back in on Sunday to see if Identity Thief was able to pass The Rock and Snitch to swipe first place, whether Dark Skies picked up any momentum to reach $10 million, and whether the return of Die Hard continued its strong fade.
