Box Office: 'Rango' proves Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski don't need 'Pirates' to hit no. 1

An animated film has risen to the top spot at the box office and imagine this: it's not even in 3D. 

As expected, Gore Verbinski's "Rango" dominated theaters on Friday pulling in $9.5 million.  Depending on Saturday's gross, the critically acclaimed trippy Western could make anywhere from $38-42 million for the weekend. That's significantly below the $50 million most of the industry was expecting from "Rango," but the film's studio, Paramount Pictures, will have to hope it duplicates the good word of mouth run "How To Train Your Dragon" had just a year ago.

Debuting in second was the Matt Damon and Emily Blunt thriller "The Adjustment Bureau."  Also benefiting from positive reviews, "Bureau" made $6.7 million on Friday for what should be a $18-20 million 3-day total.  That's a solid debut for the $62 million flick.

Surprising in third was CBS Films' "Beastly."  The Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens melodrama grossed $3.5 million on Friday in just 1,952 theaters and looks like it might overperform and make $10 million for the weekend.  In any event, CBS already made back their budget through foreign sales so the bigger the opening the closer the poorly received film is to making back it's marketing and distribution costs.

Coming under pre-release expectations was Relativity Media's "Take Me Home Tonight."  Shot four years ago, the Topher Grace and Anna Faris comedy has sat on the shelf for a variety of reasons and Relativity may wish it had stayed there.  "Tonight" is looking at $1.2  million for Friday and possibly only $4-5 million for the frame.  The company will have to hope Bradley Cooper's "Limitless" can turn around their fortunes next month.

Look for complete weekend box office 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.