FRIDAY 11:30 PM, 2ND UPDATE: Bigger numbers are starting to come in for this Martin Luther King 4-day holiday weekend which is looking like the 2nd best ever with $165M overall moviegoing, or +9% over last year. The most important news is that there’s no sign of a 2012 box office slump — yet. Hollywood is very encouraged by these North American grosses so far. Both Universal’s Contraband and Warner Bros’ Joyful Noise earned ‘A-’ CinemaScores from audiences which is one reason both films are far exceeding Hollywood predictions for their openings. One note for you snarksters: Paramount’s The Devil Inside, which took big top honors last weekend, fell -84% from last Friday to this Friday and maybe -78% week to week because of word-of-mouth related to that ’F’ CinemaScore. As one rival studio exec told me tonight: “The drop could better depending on the late night moron crowd.”
1. Contraband (Universal) NEW [2,863 Theaters]
Friday $9M, 3-Day Weekend $25M, 4-Day Holiday $30M
2. Beauty And The Beast 3D (Disney) NEW [2,625 Theaters]
Friday $5.5M, 3-Day Weekend $18.5M, 4-Day Holiday $25.6M
3. Joyful Noise (Warner Bros) NEW [2,863 Theaters]
Friday $3.8M, 3-Day Weekend $12.3M, 4-Day Holiday $14.8M
4. Mission: Impossible 4 (Paramount) Week 5 [3,346 Theaters]
Friday $3.5M, 3-Day Weekend $12.1M, 4-Day Holiday $14.6M, Est Cume $189.9M
5. The Devil Inside (Paramount) Week 2 [2,551 Theaters]
Friday $2.6M (-84%), 3-Day Weekend $7.5M, 4-Day Holiday $8.7M, Est Cume $47.1M
6. Sherlock Holmes 2 (Warner Bros) Week 5 [3,155 Theater]
Friday $2.5M, 3-Day Weekend $8.8M, 4-Day Holiday $10.6M, Est Cume $172.2M
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