Paramount’s Rango starring Johnny Depp as a domesticated chameleon violently tossed into the desert surprised no one in topping the domestic box office on Friday.
Rango brought in $9.5 million in ticket sales its opening day and looks to make around $35 million through Sunday. Those numbers fall a little short of last year’s big Paramount distributed CGI animated flick How to Train Your Dragon which pulled in $43.7 million its first weekend in March with much more kid-friendly characters and laughs. In Rango’s defense, How to Train Your Dragon did benefit from an upcharge on 3D ticket prices.
Taking second on Friday was Universal’s latest Matt Damon vehicle The Adjustment Bureau. The slick thriller, marketed to look like a cross between Inception and the Jason Bourne movies, secured $6.7 million in ticket sales and could push up toward the $20 million mark by the time the weekend wraps.This wold be a marked improvement over Universal and Damon’s Green Zone which opened to $14.3 million at this same time last year.
Beastly proved Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens aren’t quite ready to carry a blockbuster on their names but still performed admirably for a teen take on Beauty and the Beast. Its $3.5 million sets up what could be a $10 million weekend for CBS Films, more than half of the reported $17 million budget.
The last newcomer, Take Me Home Tonight, kept moviegoers at home with its tired 80s nostalgia schtick. A paltry $1.2 million opening day should push it out of the top 10 through Sunday behind holdovers including I Am Number Four, Just Go With It, Unknown, The King’s Speech, and Gnomeo and Juliet. This Relativity dud starring Topher Grace and Anna Faris should attract more numbers on Blu-ray and DVD, however.
The full weekend box office studio estimates will go live early Sunday afternoon. Be sure to check back and find out just how high Rango managed to ride.
