Warner Bros. has what you'd call a champagne problem this weekend: Its "The Hangover Part II" could gross as much as $140 million over its first five days following a huge $29.7 million Saturday, but it probably won't break any of the R-rated-opening records set by the studio's second "Matrix" movie in 2003.
"Hangover 2" grossed an estimated $91.4 million through Saturday. "The Matrix Reloaded" grossed $91.8 million over its first three days (although actuals might change that outcome). The critically eviscerated "Reloaded" also grossed $144.4 million over its first five days of release, also a bar that would appear difficult for Todd Phillips' R-rated follow-up.
For an R-rated comedy like "The Hangover 2" to beat out a huge tentpole like "The Matrix" franchise would have been nothing short of extraordinary.
"Hangover 2" does, however, appear to have the all-time comedy-opening record, besting the $85.7 million start for "Bruce Almighty" over Memorial Day weekend in 2003. The $29.7 million Saturday gross was also a comedy record.
Also among all-time best this weekend, Terrence Malick's Palme d'Or winner "The Tree of Life" has an estimated three-day gross of $352,320 at four New York and Los Angeles locations. The $88,080 per-theater average is Fox Searchlight's best ever, even beating out the $80,212 pace set by "Black Swan" in December.
"Tree of Life's" did not have the best limited opening of 2011, however. That mark belongs to Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," which averaged an incredible $99,834 per screen last weekend.
Expanding from 6 to 58 locations this weekend, "Midnight in Paris" grossed an estimated $1.9 million over the standard three-day weekend period.
Back among the tentpole trees, DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 2" grossed $18.7 million Saturday, according to studio estimates. That film could end up grossing more than $70 million over its first five days (it's currently on pace for around $68 million) bad credit loans.
A flashy number with a seven in front of it might be enough to influence a punitive Wall Street, which cratered DWA stock 5 percent Friday amid "Panda 2"s $13.2 million second day.
"Panda 2" has also grossed $57 million so far opening at 8,023 locations in 11 foreign markets.
Also performing big internationally, Disney's fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, "On Stranger Tides," is expected to have a two-week global total of over $645 million through Monday.
The film is also predicted by studio estimates to gross $50 million domestically over the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, a second-week decline of around 45 percent.
Saturday update:
Warner Bros.' "The Hangover Part II" grossed an estimated unsecured loans $30 million Friday, putting the Todd Phillips-directed R-rated comedy sequel on pace to exceed $130 million over its first five days of release, according to studio data.
The raunchy film, which re-cast Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis in their "OMG, what happend last night?" roles, was widely expected to break R-rated opening records while grossing around $125 million from its Thursday-morning midnight opening through Monday.
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