According to Showbizdata, Coach Carter starring Samuel L. Jackson won the top spot at the box office on Friday, January 15th, finally unseating Meet the Fockers three week reign. With $8.3M on Friday, Coach Carter will gross between $33-35M for Friday-Monday MLK weekend. This is his best opening for movies in which he has top billing. His previous best was Shaft‘s $21.7M debut. Get Carter has a Fresh 64% on the Tomatometer.
The other three films opening this weekend also had solid openings. In Good Company, the best reviewed of the bunch with a very Fresh 85% on the Tomatometer, grossed $4.5M. It will gross between $18-20M for the four day weekend. In Good Company stars Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson. Tied for third place with In Good Company on Friday is probably one of the worst reviewed films of the new year – Elektra starring Jennifer Garner. It has a very moldy 7% on the Tomatometer. It grossed $4.5M on Friday and will likely fall below In Good Company’s $18-20M estimate for the weekend. Racing Stripes, starring Frankie Muniz, raced to a $3.3M opening and placed sixth. With a Tomatometer of just 39%, it will gross between $10-12M for the weekend.
Meet the Fockers fell to second place with 5.6M and will likely gross between $22-24M for the weekend. Last week’s surprised second place finisher, White Noise, dropped to fifth with $3.7M on Friday, a more than 50% drop from the privious Friday. It will likely gross between $15-17M for the weekend.
