Box Office Report: 'Ted,' 'Magic Mike' Early Hits With Possible $20 Mil, $14 Mil Friday
Delivering an early fireworks show, Universal's raunchy comedy Ted and Warner Bros.' male striptease dramedy Magic Mike are exceeding all expectations as they open at the domestic box office.
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Tyler Perry's latest outing Madea's Witness Protection also is off to a good start.
Directed by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Ted could earn as much as $ 20 million on Friday for a weekend opening of $ 47 million to $ 50 million -- one of the top debuts of all time for an R-rated comedy and eclipsing the $ 45 million earned by The Hangover in 2009.
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Ted, starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, will have no trouble winning the weekend race. Producer Scott Stuber brought the comedy to Media Rights Capital, which fully financed the $ 50 million film before sealing a distribution deal with Universal.
Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike also has plenty of reason to celebrate. The R-rated film could gross $ 14 million to $ 15 million on Friday for a $ 32 million weekend debut.
The cast of the film, loosely based on star Channing Tatum's early days as an exotic dancer, includes Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer.
Warner Bros. acquired North American rights to Magic Mike for only $ 7 million.
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Magic Mike, benefiting from intense interest among women, has racked up strong advance ticket sales, in line with previous female-skewing films including fellow Warners pic Sex and the City.
Opinion is divided as to how much Pixar and Disney's Brave will gross in its second outing after opening to a stellar $ 66.3 million last weekend. If the film drops 50 percent, it will earn $ 33 million; if it drops 40 percent, it will gross $ 40 million.
Witness Protection -- marking the first time Lionsgate has opened a Tyler Perry film in the summer -- could gross between $ 20 million and $ 24 million for the weekend, a strong start.
The soft entry of the weekend is DreamWorks and Disney's adult drama People Like Us, directed by Alex Kurtzman and starring Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Elizabeth Banks and Michelle Pfeiffer. The adult drama is expected to post an opening weekend gross in the $ 4.5 million to $ 5 million range.
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