Box Office: Moviegoers make Friday a 'Date Night' with Fey and Carell

Tina Fey, Steve Carell and scene-stealing Mark Wahlberg in the new box office hit "Date Night."

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Friday night hasn't exactly been a ratings winner for NBC in sometime, but that changed yesterday.  Unfortunately, it was in movie theaters and for rival media conglomerate Newscorp.  20th Century Fox's "Date Night," starring "30 Rock's" Tina Fey and "The Office's" Steve Carell, opened at the top of the box office Friday with an impressive $9.3 million.  If estimates hold, the positively reviewed comedy could finds itself with $24-26 million by Sunday.  Industry tracking showed the film could open bigger, but Fox will have to hope the two stars appeal to older audiences will result in sustained playability over the weeks to come.

Falling to the second slot, as expected, was "Clash of the Titans."  The criticism of the epic's last minute 3-D conversion hasn't slowed, but the film still pulled in $8.5 million for a new total of $8.5 million.  The Sam Worthington action flick should still pass $100 million by Sunday and in only 10 days.  Warner Bros. will take that thank you very much.

"How To Train Your Dragon" continued it's strong holds with another $ 7.1 million.  The DreamWorks Animation film is a critical success and is hoping to reach "Madagascar" box office levels at the box office before "Iron Man 2" wipes every competitor away in a few weeks.  It's a tall order at this point with only $115.2 million in the bank so far.

Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Too" had a big drop from its opening Friday to only $3.5 million and a new total of $41 million. Still, Perry's latest will pass the original's final cume of "$55 million within the next few weeks and is in earshot of becoming his second biggest grosser ever if it can surpass the $63.2 million "Madea's Family Reunion" made in 2006.  

Meanwhile, "Hot Tub Time Machine" continues to defy the odds.  After opening below expectations three weeks ago, the comedy pulled in another $1.78 million on Friday for a new cume of $33.2 million.  Yes, wonders never cease to amaze us or the box office gods.

Look for complete weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.
 

Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

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With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.