Box Office Report: 'Footloose' Eyes Weekend Win With $16 to $17 Million

Paramount’s Footloose remake topped the Friday box office with an estimated $5.6 million, enough to beat holdover Real Steel.

Starring Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough, Footloose is expected to gross $17 million for the weekend, in line with pre-release expectations. The remake of the 1984 classic, directed by Craig Brewer, cost a modest $24 million to produce.

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Females flocked to see Footloose, making up 60 percent of the audience. Roughly 61 percent were over the age of 25, but the pic could skew younger over the weekend. Footloose, playing gin 3,549 theaters, received a glowing A CinemaScore.

DreamWorks’ Real Steel placed No. 2 on its second Friday, grossing an estimated $4.5 million for a projected weekend take of $15 million. The movie’s cume through Friday was $40 million.

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Universal’s early Halloween entry The Thing, a prequel to John Carpenter’s 1972 movie of the same name, placed No. 3 on Friday, grossing an estimated $3.2 million. The R-rated horror pic, going out in 2,996 theaters, is now projected to gross a softer-than-expected $8.7 million for the weekend.

Universal is distributing The Thing overseas for Morgan Creek, which owned international rights. The movie opens this weekend in Australia, France, Hong Kong and Taiwan this weekend.

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The Thing received a B- CinemaScore, with males making up 63 percent of the audience.

The weekend’s third new film, Fox 2000’s adult comedy The Big Year, only grossed $1.2 million on Friday, despite an all-star cast led by Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. The pic, receiving a B- CinemaScore and coming in No. 8, may not hit $4 million for the weekend.