Friday Report: 'SpongeBob' Scores Super $15.1 Million
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water crushed expectations on Friday, while Jupiter Ascending and Seventh Son bombed.

The adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon TV show opened to an estimated $15.1 million yesterday. In comparison, the first SpongeBob movie earned $9.6 million on its first Friday nearly a decade ago.

More interesting is the fact that this opening is nearly on par with The LEGO Movie's $17.1 million haul on the same date last year. If Sponge Out of Water holds up like LEGO through the weekend, it will wind up north of $60 million.

Playing at 3,181 locations, Jupiter Ascending opened in second place on Friday with an estimated $6.4 million. That's significantly lower than recent sci-fi movies like Elysium ($11.1 million) and Edge of Tomorrow ($10.6 million).

It's also barely above legendary Wachowski bomb Speed Racer, which opened to $6.2 million back in May 2008. For the weekend, Jupiter Ascending will likely wind up between $17 and $19 million.

After holding on to the top spot for the past three weeks, American Sniper dropped to third with $6.26 million (off 37 percent). It has now earned $264.4 million total, which puts it in third place among 2014 releases ahead of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Sniper will likely wind up with at least $23 million over the three-day weekend, and could crack the Top 10 all-time for fourth weekends.

As expected, long-delayed fantasy movie Seventh Son flopped on Friday. The movie earned an estimated $2.3 million, which is lower than The Legend of Hercules ($3.2 million), Pompeii ($3.4 million) and I, Frankenstein ($2.9 million). For the weekend, it could fall short of $7 million.

Weekend Projections

1. SpongeBob - $55 million

2. American Sniper - $24 million

3. Jupiter Ascending - $18 million

4. Seventh Son - $6.5 million

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Forecast: 'SpongeBob' to Take Down 'Sniper' on First Weekend of February

Related Charts:

Grosses for Friday, February 6, 2015

• 2014 Domestic Box Office