“Oz the Great and Powerful” is on its way to a $44 million repeat weekend win at the box office and Halle Berry's thriller “The Call” opened impressively in second. But the comedy “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” went a surprising poof in its debut Friday.
“Oz” brought in $11.4 million Friday from a market-high 3,912 theaters, more than 3,000 of which are 3D. If it can keep up that pace it will have dropped less than 50 percent from its nearly $80 million opening last weekend.
Disney's “Wizard of Oz” prequel upped its overall domestic total to $114.2 million. The worldwide total for the $200 million special effects extravaganza, directed by Sam Raimi and starring James Franco, is more than $183 million.
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The R-rated “The Call” is on its way to a $16 million weekend after ringing up $6.2 million Friday from a relatively low 2,507 theaters. That would be about $5 million more than analysts had projected for the kidnap drama produced by Troika Pictures and WWE Entertainment for an estimated $13 mllion and distributed by Sony's TriStar. Opening night audiences gave it a “B+” CinemaScore.
“Burt Wonderstone,” starring Steve Carell and Jim Carrey as rival magicians, managed just $3.7 million from 3,160 theaters Friday — including a number of 10 p.m. Thursday shows –and will finish the weekend at around $10 million.
That's about $5 million less than analysts projected for the PG-13 film, produced by New Line and BenderSpink for an estimated $30 million. It's disappointing given its 3,160 theaters, a strong marketing push, the lack of comedy competition and the stars involved.
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The last time Carell and Carrey were paired was a decade ago in “Bruce Almighty,” which made nearly $250 million at the domestic box office.
First-nights audiences gave "Burt" a “C+” CinemaScore, so word-of-mouth won't really help. The weak debut continues a run of 2013 disappointments for distributor Warner Bros., whose last release was “Jack the Giant Slayer,” which cost $200 million to produce.
“Jack,” which is on still on 3,357 screens in its third week, was running fourth after a $1.7 million Friday put it on course for a $6.9 million weekend. It's overall total is $54 million.
That was just ahead of Universal's “Identity Thief,” which brought in $1.3 million Friday and is looking at $4.5 million for the weekend. The R-rated Melissa McCarthy-Jason Bateman comedy, produced for $35 million, has brought in nearly $120 million since debuting six weeks ago.