Updated 10:15 a.m. PT Jan. 28
"The Grey" is looking like box office gold.
The film, starring Liam Neeson, took in $6.5 million at the domestic box office Friday, and is on track to take $18.6 million for the weekend.
While that's nowhere near the $25.3 million that last week's box office champ, Sony's "Underworld: Awakening" pulled in during its first weekend, it is about $4 million more than box-office watchers had predicted. And it makes the picture the No. 1 movie in the country.
Also read: Review: 'The Grey' More Than Just 'Taken' With Wolves
That's a nice distinction for any movie. Considering this is Open Road Films' second release ever, it is especially noteworthy.
In other new releases, Lionsgate's "One for the Money" took $4.1 million on Friday, putting it in second place at the box office and on track for a weekend approaching $12 million. Summit's "Man on a Ledge" grossed $2.5 million on Friday and is looking at a $7.2 million weekend and a fifth-place debut.
Last week's first and second-place movies are in third and fourth place this week: "Underworld Awakening" took in $3.4 million on Friday and "Red Tails" grossed $2.8 million.
Meanwhile, there was a box office bump for "The Descendants," which took in $1.7 million on Friday -- its best single day since Dec. 10, when it grossed $2 million.
The Fox Searchlight movie starring expanded to 2,001 locations this weekend -- 1,441 more than last week -- and is on track to be the No. 8 film in the country this weekend.
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," also nominated for a best picture Oscar, grossed $2 million on Friday. While that's down about $1.7 million compared to last Friday, it's still good enough to put it at No. 6 in the country.
This is the second week of wide release for "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," and it is looking to have a 25-to-30 percent drop compared to last week. Without the nomination, that drop likely would have been 40 percent or more.
Earlier:
"The Grey," starring Liam Neeson -- Open Road Film's second release ever -- is poised to debut as the No. 1 movie at the domestic box office this weekend.
The film is expected to easily beat this weekend's other new releases, Lionsgate's "One for the Money" and Summit's "Man on a Ledge."
It's an unusual weekend at the box office. None of the three new movies come from major studios but all three come from high-profile producers. Joe Carnahan, Ridley Scott and Tony Scott produced "The Grey," Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian produced "Man on a Ledge" and Katherine Heigl and Sidney Kimmel produced "One for the Money."
Another quirk of the weekend: Lionsgate is competing against itself. The company bought Summit Entertainment earlier this month. By the time the deal was done, much of the advertising for "Man on a Ledge" had been locked in.
