Friday Box Office: An extended 'Hangover' for moviegoers still at No. 1

Bradley Cooper and Heather Graham at the London Premeire of "The Hangover" earlier this week.

Credit: AP Photo/Joel Ryan

After 10 days, the studio's $35 million comedy whose most recognizable star was probably former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (who only appears in a cameo) has cumed a stunning $82 million.  Even with the Denzel Washington/John Travolta triller "The Taking of Pelham 123" opening against it, "The Hangover" grossed another $10.4 million on Friday and is headed for a six figure cume by the end of the weekend.  Already the surprise hit of the summer, $200 million is not out of the question for the Todd Phillips blockbuster. And yes, a sequel for "The Hangover" is already in development.

As for "Pelham," the thriller had a solid $8 million opening on Friday.  The Tony Scott flick has received some positive reviews and could hit anywhere between $25-27 million for the weekend.  Still, "Pelham's" debut wasn't big enough for the No. 2 slot. That went to Pixar's "Up."

Another critical and box office home run for Walt Disney Studios, the family friendly adventure racked up $8.8 million and should get a big bump with Saturday's matinees allowing it to possibly challenge "Hangover" for the weekend's pole position (the adult comedy made a comeback and squeaked by the animated flick last weekend when final results were tallied).

Not surprisingly, and showing his career is in need of some major fine tuning, Eddie Murphy's "Imagine That" became his second bomb in a row with a disastrous $1.8 million opening day.  While well received as a safe family film, the picture did not seem special enough to compete in the summer against similar fare like "Up" and "Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian."  Murphy has been rumored to be returning to the "Nutty Professor" franchise for a third go around, but it appears audiences are tiring of more of the same from the former superstar.

Look for final 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.