Updated 8:32 a.m. PT Saturday
"Puss in Boots" is in position to break the record for best Halloween weekend opening ever -- but with a smaller take than many box-office watchers had predicted.
The DreamWorks Animation film grossed about $9.56 million on Friday, according to rival-studio estimates. That puts the 3D movie on track to take in just more than $35 million for the weekend.
DreamWorks has said it would be happy with anything more than $33.6 million, which is the record for the Halloween weekend. But some box-office watchers outside the studio were far less conservative with their estimates, and predicted the film would exceed $40 million.
Early estimates have "Paranormal Activity 3," a holdover from last week, in second place, grossing $6.52 million on Friday and $18.6 million for the weekend.
Those estimates show Fox's "In Time" taking $4.23 million on Friday and about $12 million for the weekend and FilmDistrict's "The Rum Diary" pulling in only about $2 million on Friday for a disappointing weekend of less than $6 million.
Earlier:
Can DreamWorks Animation's new "Shrek" spin-off "Puss in Boots" fight of the ogres on Wall Street this weekend?
DreamWorks Animation's share prices have been steadily pounded with each animated feature release over the last 18 months, starting with the $43.7 million opening last year for "How to Train Your Dragon."
For its part, "Puss in Boots" is being tracked by outside box-office watchers to take in roughly that same amount this weekend when it opens at 3,952 theaters (although executives for DreamWorks and distribution partner Paramount offer more conservative guesses of around $35 million).
Also read: DreamWorks Animation Sluggish - Q3 Declines But Beats Forecasts
By October standards, that would be exceptional, breaking the Halloween-weekend record that Lionsgate's "Saw III" set when it opened to $33.6 million in 2006.
As for the $130 million animated spin-off impressing Wall Street? Well, DWA stock has to stop sliding at some point.
"Puss in Boots" won't open alone.
Fox’s PG-13 sci-fi thriller “In Time,” starring Justin Timberlake, is projected to gross somewhere in the mid-teens. FilmDistrict’s R-rated Johnny Depp film “The Rum Diary,” an adaptation of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s novel, is tracking in the high single digits.
Also making limited openings: Sony's Roland Emmerich-directed "Anonymous" will start out in 250 locations; and Paramount will debut Sundance award-winner "Like Crazy" in four L.A. and NYC art houses.
Yet another factor at the weekend box office: last weekend's champ, Paramount's "Paranormal Activity 3."
If “Paranormal” drops more than 50 percent from its opening weekend, it’ll still bring in well over $20 million.
Also read: Review: 'Like Crazy' an Irritating Tale of Twits in Love
While Paramount's viral-horror franchise will still command plenty of attention over the pre-Halloween-weekend frame, the weekend's big film is "Puss in Boots."
