Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 2 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="3079724116" style="display: inline-block; height: 280px; width: 336px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;">Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million</span></div><div><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/">http://www.hollywoodreporter.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="The Best Man Holiday Still 1 - H 2013" src="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2013/11/2427_d021_00372r_crop.jpg" /></div><div><h2 class="main_article_deck" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: 'Vonness Bold Compressed', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;">The African-American comedy could come much closer to "Thor: The Dark World" than expected.</h2><div class="article_body" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;"><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><strong>Malcolm D. Lee</strong>'s sequel <em>The Best Man Holiday</em> -- opening nearly 15 years after the first film -- could approach or cross $33 million in its North American debut, vastly exceeding expectations.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"></div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><strong><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/25-falls-anticipated-movies-enders-608214" style="color: #e11a1f; text-decoration: none;">PHOTOS: 25 of Fall's Most Anticipated Movies: 'Ender's Game,' 'Catching Fire,' 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and More</a></strong></div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">The Universal comedy is pacing to gross $13 million or more on Friday, possibly eclipsing <em>Thor: The Dark World</em> for the day, although <em>Thor 2 </em>is still tipped to stay at No. 1 in its second weekend with a gross north of $37 million.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><em>Thor 2 </em>could approach $450 million in global ticket sales by the end of the weekend -- catching up with the entire gross of the first<em>Thor</em> ($449.3 million) in another major victory for Disney and Marvel Studios' <em>Avengers</em> universe.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"></div><div class="article_body" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 16px 0px 0px;"><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">From Universal, <em>Best Man Holiday</em> -- projected to top out at $20 million -- sees <strong>Morris Chestnut</strong>, <strong>Taye Diggs</strong>, <strong>Regina Hall</strong>,<strong>Terrence Howard</strong>, <strong>Sanaa Lathan</strong>, <strong>Nia Long</strong>, <strong>Monica Calhoun</strong> and <strong>Melissa De Sousa</strong> reprising their roles. The first film, opening to $9 million in 1999, is credited with helping to usher in the era of aspirational African-American comedies.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">Black films have been making strong gains at the North American box office, with <em>Fruitvale Station</em>,<em>Lee Daniels' The Butler</em> and <em>12 Years a Slave</em> all overperforming. Those movies -- all dramas -- are drawing a mixed audience, while <em>Best Man Holiday </em>is expected to play primarily to African-Americans, similar to <strong>Tyler Perry</strong>'s pics.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">Universal spent a modest $17 million to make the sequel, which Lee produced with <strong>Sean Daniel</strong>.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">This weekend was supposed to have seen the debut of <strong>Martin </strong><strong>Scorsese</strong>'s <em>The Wolf of Wall Street</em>, but Paramount pushed the film to Christmas Day in order for Scorsese to trim the running time.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><strong><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/best-man-holiday-cast-reveals-653803" style="color: #e11a1f; text-decoration: none;">STORY: 'Best Man Holiday’ Cast Reveals Favorite Holiday Traditions at Premiere</a></strong></div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">High-profile openings at the specialty box office include <strong>Alexander Payne</strong>'s awards entry <em>Nebraska</em>, starring <strong>Bruce Dern</strong> and <strong>Will Forte</strong>. Paramount is opening the critically acclaimed film festival darling in New York and Los Angeles.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">Also debuting in select theaters is <em>Charlie Countryman</em>, starring<strong> Shia LaBeouf </strong>opposite <strong>Evan Rachel Wood</strong>. Millennium Films is distributing the movie domestically.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">Fox 2000's <em>The Book Thief,</em> opening last weekend in New York and L.A., expands into an additional seven markets.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><strong><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hunger-games-catching-fire-5-655057" style="color: #e11a1f; text-decoration: none;">STORY: 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire': 5 Most Anticipated Scenes</a></strong></div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;">Next weekend, the 2013 holiday season gets underway in earnest with the release of Lionsgate's <em>The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.</em> The sequel is poised to turn into an instant blockbuster, with bullish box-office observers saying it could open to a mammoth $170 million domestically (the first film debuted to $152.5 million in March 2012).</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><em>Catching Fire</em> is rolling out early in Brazil, where it opens this weekend. It will open in most international markets next weekend, timed to its North American launch.</div></div><div id="prev-next" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="prev-story story-link" href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/decked-esquire-network-how-i-656328" style="color: #e11a1f; text-decoration: none;"><span class="icon-prev-next-arrow arrow"></span></a><br /><h4 class="hd-i" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="prev-story story-link" href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/decked-esquire-network-how-i-656328" style="color: #e11a1f; text-decoration: none;">Previous Story</a></h4><a class="prev-story story-link" href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/decked-esquire-network-how-i-656328" style="color: #e11a1f; text-decoration: none;"><h3 class="hd-j" style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Decked Out: Producer Jonas Bell Pasht</h3></a><a class="next-story story-link" href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/randy-thom-656254" style="color: #e11a1f; text-decoration: none;"><span class="icon-prev-next-arrow arrow"></span><h4 class="hd-i" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Next Story</h4><h3 class="hd-j" style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Randy Thom</h3></a></div><br /><br /><div style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><br /></div></div></div></div>

Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday Could Cross $33 Million Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million

Box Office: 'Best Man Holiday' Surges Friday, Could Cross $33 Million http://www.hollywoodreporter.com The African-American comedy c...

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