FUNNY PEOPLE getting fewer laughs than Apatow classics with just $8M Friday & a likely $22M 3-Day!

Judd Apatow's Funny People (Universal) appears to be a disappointment managing just $8M on opening despite solid reviews and an all-star cast. With a likely $22M 3-day target, the movie will finish well behind his 2007 phenom Knocked Up ($30.7M) and more in line with his first directorial effort The 40-Year Old Virgin, which scored about $21.4M back in 2005. If the number for Funny People holds, it will be about half of the $45M or so generated by The Hangover, the year's #1 comedy. Meanwhile the other two new wide releases, Fox's Aliens in the Attic and The Collector from Freestyle, are basically non-starters.

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY FRIDAY & 3-DAY ESTIMATES
1. Funny People (Universal) - $8M Fri - $22M 3-Day - $22M Cume
2. G-Force (Disney) - $6.2M Fri -$20.7M 3-Day - $70.1M Cume
3. Harry Potter 6 (Warner Bros) - $5.5M Fri - $18.3M 3-Day - $256M Cume
4. The Ugly Truth (Sony) - $4.5M Fri - $13.6M 3-Day - $55M Cume
*Aliens in the Attic (Fox) - $2.8M Fri - $8.2M 3-Day - $8.2M Cume
*Transformers 2 (Dreamworks/Paramount) - $1.5M Fri - $4.8M 3-Day - $388.3M Cume
*The Collector (Freestyle) - $1.2M Fri - $3.1M 3-Day - $3.1M Cume

Comments

[jay]

yeah um i highly doubt the accuracy of this as A) ur a sports blogger and B) theres no source what so ever

[Steve Mason]

You can doubt the accuracy, but if you look at my track record, you'll see that I'm deadly accurate. And, there are multiple sources. Watch the weekend numbers play out and then get back to me.

Also, check out...
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/category/steve-masons-box-office/

http://www.slashfilm.com/author/steve-mason/

http://news.fantasymoguls.com/originalcontent/steve_mason/

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1849978,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aHYCEcHbbiVU

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1837417,00.html

and this...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987848.html?categoryid=2520&cs=1

[Adam]

Jay are you "potterfanjr" on Twitter? If so here is a napkin for you to clean the egg off your face.

Steve Mason is the absolute best in the biz. His predictions are razor sharp and never off by more than 10% up or down.

[wrongturn687]

Hey Steve do uou have any tracking data on District 9 yet ?

[Tea Baggin]

What about The Orphan?

[Kyle]

Steve,

Why are you doing so few movie blogs lately? I used to read you on Fantasy Moguls. I even suffered through visiting the Big Hollywood website to follow your posts. To give you some context, I think Obama tends to be too conservative and I don't think socialism is such a bad thing, so you can imagine my feelings about the website!

It took me a while but I eventually found your website here and was happy to see movie posts. But seeing so few of them is disappointing. Any chance you could go back to your weekly predictions on Friday and roundup on Sunday or Monday?