MLK 3-Day Estimates: Contraband Steals the Weekend

January 15, 2012

With Beauty and the Beast disappointing slightly over the 3-day MLK frame, Contraband will take first place by a fairly comfortable margin, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. The action movie is set to pick up about $24.1 million, per Universal, while Disney pegs Beast's Friday-Sunday total at $18.5 million. Joyful Noise will bring in a solid, if slightly disappointing, $11.3 million for Warner Bros..

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol looks like it will end up in 3rd place, although its projected $11.5 million is only $200,000 ahead of Joyful Noise. The most notable returning movie, however, is The Devil Inside, which will crash over 75% in its second weekend to $7.9 million. Given Paramount's low costs on this one, profitability is already assured, however.

The Iron Lady's wide expansion this weekend, to 802 theaters, will probably give it a spot in the top ten. Weinstein projects $5.4 million, just ahead of We Bought a Zoo on $5.2 million.

In limited release, We Need to Talk About Kevin will post an impressive $44,000 in two theaters for Oscilloscope Pictures, which will be hoping for the kind of run and Oscar buzz enjoyed by The Messenger in 2009/2010.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and A Separation both continue with strong limited runs and will each land in the $80,000's this weekend from six theaters.

- Weekend Estimates

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Beauty and the Beast, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, We Bought a Zoo, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Joyful Noise, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Iron Lady, Contraband, Jodaeiye Nader az Simin, The Devil Inside