'No Strings Attached' Takes No. 1 Spot at Friday Box Office

Natalie Portman continued to score at the box office as her new R-rated romantic comedy No Strings Attached opened No. 1 on Friday with an estimated gross of $7.3 million from 3,018 theaters.

our editor recommends

Film Review: 'No Strings Attached' Is Cutesy, Nowhere Near Hot Enough

The Paramount pic, directed by Ivan Reitman and also starring Ashton Kutcher, bested Sony’s 3D holdover The Green Hornet, which grossed roughly $5.1 million from 3,584 theaters for a cume of $50.4 million in its eighth day in release.

No Strings Attached is poised to win the weekend, judging from Friday’s performance, and is looking like a win for Paramount.

Portman’s Black Swan, from Fox Searchlight, placed No. 6 on Friday, grossing an estimated $1.8 million for a cume of $79.1 million.

Universal’s Vince Vaughn/Kevin James comedy The Dilemma placed No. 3 on Friday, grossing an estimated $3 million from 2,943 theaters for a cume of $26.6 in its eighth day.

A pack of awards frontrunners, including Swan, took the next three spots on the top 10 box office chart.
The Weinstein Co.’s The King’s Speech and Paramount’s True Grit all but tied on Friday, each grossing roughly $2.1 million, although King’s Speech came in slightly ahead to take the No. 4 spot.

King’s Speech-- likely boosted by Colin Firth’s Golden Globe win -- jumped the $50 million mark with a new cume of $51.6 million. True Grit’s cume through Friday was $132.8 million.

Like King’s Speech, Swan could be helped at the box office by Portman’s Golden Globe victory.