Friday Report: 'Croods,' 'Olympus' Excel, 'Admission' Fails
The Croods and Olympus Has Fallen both opened north of $10 million on Friday, while Spring Breakers did solid business in its nationwide expansion. The only loser this weekend looks to be Admission, which couldn't even crack the Top Five despite the presence of Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.

DreamWorks Animation's The Croods took first place with an estimated $11.6 million from 4,046 locations on opening day. That's a bit better than Rio ($10.34 million), but slightly below How to Train Your Dragon ($12.1 million). For the three-day weekend, it's likely that The Croods winds up above $40 million, which is a good start ahead of the Easter/Passover holidays.

In second place, Olympus Has Fallen debuted to an estimated $10.4 million from 3,098 locations (its per-theater average was actually better than The Croods). That's a very strong start for the first of two White House invasion movies this year (the second, White House Down, opens in June). It's the top opening day for an R-rated action movie so far this year ahead of A Good Day to Die Hard ($8.2 million), and is more than double the debut of director Antoine Fuqua's March 2007 movie Shooter ($4.78 million). Distributor FilmDistrict is currently expecting around $28 million for the weekend.

Facing tough competition from The Croods, Oz The Great and Powerful tumbled 50 percent to an estimated $5.65 million. Through 15 days, Oz is by-far the highest-grossing movie of 2013 with $161.2 million.

After an unexpectedly strong start last weekend, The Call plummeted 57 percent to an estimated $2.68 million in its second Friday. To date, the Halle Berry thriller has earned $24.9 million, and should be past $30 million by the end of the weekend.

Spring Breakers rounded out the Top Five with an estimated $2.1 million from 1,104 locations. Its per-theater average of $1,902 is higher than that of The Master ($1,773) and Moonrise Kingdom ($1,623) when they moved in to nationwide release last year. The Harmony Korine drama will earn at least $5.5 million this weekend, which is an impressive start for a movie that's relied almost exclusively on publicity and word-of-mouth.

In sixth place, Admission failed with $2.06 million. That's the worst start ever for Tina Fey, and is also lower than past Paul Rudd disappointments How Do You Know ($2.57 million), Our Idiot Brother ($2.39 million) and Wanderlust ($2.17 million). For the weekend, Admission will end up with around $6 million.

Finally, after its awful start last week, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone appears to be in the midst of a disappearing act this weekend. The magician comedy fell 64 percent to an estimated $1.33 million, and to date has earned a meager $14.4 million.

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Related Chart:

Grosses for Friday, March 22, 2013