Weekend Estimates: Family Audiences Give Madagascar Weekend Win

June 10, 2012

This is a rare Summer weekend where two new releases had a decent shot at topping the chart, and a rarer Summer weekend where both of them have performed strongly at the box office. In the end, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted will come out on top, according to studios' Sunday estimates, with the animated adventure forecast to earn just over $60 million (within 5% of the debut of the previous outing for the franchise). Prometheus, meanwhile, started out in first place on Friday, but has slowed through the weekend and will end up with about $50 million, according to Fox. Both films averaged about $14,000 per theater, and clearly didn't suffer too much from having to share 3-D space in theaters.

Elsewhere on the chart, Moonrise Kingdom expanded to 96 theaters and will hit the top ten for the first time with about $1.6 million. The Hunger Games will pass $400 million at the box office today, its 80th day in release. And Safety Not Guaranteed is the standout new limited release, picking up $100,000 in nine theaters for FilmDistrict.

- Weekend Estimates

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Hunger Games, Moonrise Kingdom