Updated 9 a.m. PT Feb. 18
"The Vow," "Safe House" and "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" are looking like big box office winners this The Presidents Day weekend, with "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" just behind them.
All four films are on track to gross well more than $20 million over the four days. Just like last weekend, "The Vow" and "Safe House" will battle it out for the No. 1 spot.
On Friday "The Vow" and "Ghost Rider" pulled in an estimated $7.4 million and $7 million, putting them at No. 1 and No. 2 for the day. "The Vow" was last weekend's No. 1 movie and "Ghost Rider" debuted Friday.
"Safe House" took $6.5 million on Friday, "This Means War" took $5.6 million and "Journey 2" took $4.5 million. Both "Safe House" and "Journey 2" are in their second weekend. "This Means War" is in its first. "The Secret World of Arrietty" debuted to $1.7 million on Friday.
One movie's numbers are especially interesting. Although "Journey 2" opened to a respectable $27.3 million last weekend, it was well behind "The Vow" and "Safe House," which each beat $40 million.
The New Line movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Josh Hutcherson looks to be the biggest beneficiary of the holiday. The PG-rated movie is expected to take about $19 million over three days and nearly $25 over four, athough some box-office watchers think it could hit $26 million.
If it draws an especially large family crowd on Monday, it could be the surprise of the weekend.
Also read: Even Nicolas Cage Seems Restrained in Oddly Tame 'Ghost Rider' Sequel
"Ghost Rider," meanwhile, looks to be in line with Sony's projections for the weekend -- $20 million for the three days and $24 million for the four. The movie benefitted from an on-target marketing campaign, but is unlikely to be able to recover from the "C+" grade that the audience polling firm Cinemascore assigned to it.
While "Ghost Rider" got hit by its Cinemascore, Fox's "This Means War" could benefit from its "A-." That film is still projected to end the weekend in fifth place, but could exceed the $14 million Fox had estimated.
Earlier:
It's too early to declare the box office slump that began in 2011 over, but every weekend this year has outperformed the comparable weekend last year.
And the upcoming four-day Presidents Day weekend will extend the streak if the industry's projections are on the money.
Sony’s debuting sequel “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” and Universal’s week-old “Safe House” are expected to battle for the top spot. Both are looking at somewhere in the upper $20 million or lower $30 million range.
Also read: 'Ghost Rider 2' Poised to Ignite a Lackluster Franchise
But nearly as intriguing as the battle for No.
