‘Oz The Great And Powerful’ Tops Friday Box Office

Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful claimed the top spot at the box office on Friday.

Director Sam Raimi’s Wizard of Oz prequel continues to draw people into theaters. The film added an additional $11 million to its total on Friday. Should the movie continue to post strong, analysts believe its three-day total could land somewhere around $42 million.

These numbers could push the domestic total for Oz the Great and Powerful toward the $150 million mark. This doesn’t take into account the money the film has made overseas. Sam Raimi’s fairy tale should cross $200 million when foreign receipts are added in.

The movie’s success has prompted the studio to move forward with a sequel. Although most of the Oz the Great and Powerful cast will return for the follow-up, Sam Raimi has stated that he currently has no interest in working on another Oz film.

Although Disney has enjoyed some success at the box office as of late, Warner Bros. continues to stumble. The Jim Carrey and Steve Carell comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone only managed to bring in around $3.7 million on Friday. The film’s projected week total is an estimated $11 million.

Wonderstone is the latest financial disappointment released by the studio this year. Gangster Squad, Beautiful Creatures, and the Sylvester Stallone thriller Bullet to the Head also failed to connect with moviegoers.

One surprise at the Friday box office was the Halle Berry thriller The Caller. Berry stars as a 911 dispatcher who sets out rescue a caller who claims to have been kidnapped. The film earned $6.2 million in just one day of release. The Caller is expected to take the number two spot this weekend with $17 million in receipts.

Unfortunately for Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer, the film still hasn’t captured the imagination of moviegoers. The big-budget fantasy brought in $1.7 million on Friday. This is only slightly more than the Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief.

Friday’s top 10 films have been listed below.

1. Oz the Great and Powerful – $11.4 million
2. The Call – $6.2 million
3. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone – $3.7 million
4. Jack the Giant Slayer – $1.7 million
5. Identity Thief – $1.3 million
6. Snitch – $1 million
7. 21 And Over – $950,000
8. Safe Haven – $840,000
9. Silver Linings Playbook – $745,000
10. Dead Man Down – $640,000

Although the new releases didn’t bring too many people to theaters on Friday, next week could be a different story. The Gerard Butler action flick Olympus Has Fallen and the star-studded animated comedy The Croods are both scheduled for release.

Did you see Oz the Great and Powerful over the weekend? Are you planning to catch any of the new releases in theaters?