Friday Report: 'Kick-Ass' No Superhero

Leading the box office on Friday, Kick-Ass wasn't exactly the next Zombieland, despite the hype machine pushing it as something even bigger. Nevertheless, it posted a relatively solid estimated $7.6 million on approximately 4,300 screens at 3,065 locations. That figure, though, still includes preview grosses from Thursday night.

While Zombieland boasted a $9.4 million opening day, Kick-Ass delivered the biggest opening day ever for a superhero comedy, a sub-genre that is generally unpopular like Zombieland's horror comedy milieu. The previous superhero comedy highs were Superhero Movie with $3.47 million and Mystery Men with $3.36 million (or over $5 million adjusted for ticket price inflation). If Kick-Ass's weekend follows a similar trajectory to Zombieland's, then it would wind up with less than $20 million, which would likely be enough for the weekend top spot (depending on how much its Thursday previews skewed the Friday gross).

Death at a Funeral also delivered a relatively solid opening day, grossing an estimated $5.6 million on around 3,000 screens at 2,459 venues. That was smack dab in the middle of First Sunday and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins among similar comedies.

Hot on Death at a Funeral's heels for second place this weekend (and perhaps higher) were Date Night and How to Train Your Dragon. Date Night was closer than Dragon on Friday with an estimated $5.5 million, but family movie Dragon, which generated an estimated $4.4 million, will make up much more ground on Saturday and Sunday.

Date Night was down a good 40 percent from last Friday, and its tally grew to $37.4 million in eight days. How to Train Your Dragon was off 38 percent from last Friday, and its total stands at $143 million in 22 days. Dragon had a bigger fourth Friday than Monsters Vs. Aliens did last year, and now trails Monsters by just over $10 million through the same point.

In fifth place, Clash of the Titans retreated 49 percent to an estimated $4.3 million, lifting its total to $121.5 million in 15 days. It fell further behind 300, which had amassed $147.9 million at the 15-day mark.

Meanwhile, two pictures had sizable limited launches but failed to spark much interest. The Jones made an estimated $155,000 at 193 sites, while The Perfect Game fared worse with $137,000 at 417 sites.

Related Story
• Weekend Preview: 'Kick-Ass,' 'Death at a Funeral'

Related Chart
• Daily Grosses for Friday, April 16