Although the top ten films combined won’t match the debut of last year’s The Hunger Games, overall it looks like a good weekend at the domestic box office. Things look especially promising for DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods, which is on track for the second-highest debut of 2013 with over $40 million. In its first day in 4,046 locations, The Croods earned an estimated $11.6 million: just under the opening of DWA’s How to Train Your Dragon in March of 2010. In second place, FilmDistrict’s Olympus Has Fallen also looks strong. The R-rated thriller exceeded expectations on Friday with an estimated take of $10 million from 3,098 locations, and is now on track to top $25 million through Sunday. After setting records in just three theatres last weekend, Spring Breakers expanded into 1,104 venues yesterday and earned an estimated $2.1 million for fifth place. The only new release headed for trouble, in fact, is Admission. The comedy opened in sixth place and will fall short of $7 million from its 2,160 dates this weekend. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

For a second week in a row, Oz the Great and Powerful reigned at the domestic box office. The Disney hit earned an estimated $42.2 million, down 47% off from last weekend’s debut. But the big news this week is the film that took second place. With an estimated $17.1 million from 2,507 locations, The Call wound up stealing the spotlight from the comedy debut of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

It looks like another decent weekend at the box office, thanks to Oz the Great and Powerful. The Disney hit earned an estimated $11.4 million on its second Friday, and brought its domestic total up to an impressive $114.2 million. That Oz remained in first place was entirely expected; what was not so expected was the film that followed it. The Call, the thriller starring Halle Berry, opened with a modest weekend projection of around $10 million. Instead, the Sony/Tristar release earned an estimated $6.2 million from 2,507 locations on its first day alone – putting it on track for over $17 million and a second-place finish through Sunday. The relative success of The Call drew attention to the relative failure of Friday’s higher-profile debut: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. From 3,160 locations, the Steve Carell-Jim Carrey comedy earned just $3.72 million: a total that included Thursday pm previews. The Warner Brothers release was expected to earn $18 million this weekend; but after its disappointing start, $11 million may be the limit of Wonderstone’s box office magic.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

The fact that we all saw it coming doesn’t make it less sweet. Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful opened big this weekend, earning an estimated $80.2 million from 3,912 locations. Not only does that more than double 2013’s highest debut, it also stands as the third-best March opening of all time, behind Alice in Wonderland and The Hunger Games.

Ding-dong the slump is dead! After weeks of disappointing returns, the domestic box office is receiving a much-needed boost from Oz the Great and Powerful. The Disney feature opened in 3,912 locations on Friday with an estimated $24.1 million – including $2 million from Thursday and midnight previews. Oz is now projected to earn almost $80 million through Sunday, dwarfing the $34.5 million of Identity Thief, 2013’s previous best-opener.  Though any relief from the mediocrity of recent frames is welcome, the Technicolor success of Oz the Great and Powerful should not come as a surprise. Inspired by one of cinema’s most beloved properties and heavily marketed to the family audiences that this year has so badly neglected, Oz the Great and Powerful was all but guaranteed an impressive debut. FilmDistrict’s Dead Man Down also opened on Friday but, as another in 2013’s long-line of unremarkable R-rated releases, the thriller’s prospects for success were never very strong. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

2013’s box office downturn stretched to its sixth frame this weekend, as Warner Brothers’ Jack the Giant Slayer failed to justify its giant pricetag. From 3,525 locations, the fairytale adaptation took in an estimated $28 million – more than its Friday estimate promised, but less than half of what The Lorax delivered at this time last year. The weekend’s other offerings fared little better though, in the case of The Last Exorcism Part II, a small opening was mitigated by an even smaller budget.

Yikes! For anyone hoping that this weekend’s slate of new movies would pull the domestic box office out of its deadly tailspin, get used to disappointment. Three new titles opened wide on Friday (four, if you count the independent thriller Phantom), but each is looking like more of a dud than the last. With an estimated $7.7 million from 3,525 locations, the best that can be said of Warner Brothers’ pricey Jack the Giant Slayer is that it didn’t have to vie for first place with the month-old Identity Thief. Director Bryan Singer’s fantasy film is expected to stay on top this weekend with around $25 million, though that falls far short of the film’s reported $200 million pricetag. 21 & Over was in second place on Friday with an estimated $3.3 million from its 2,771 locations. At this point, $10 million is the most that the teen-party flick can hope to see through Sunday so… not quite the Project X redux that was promised. Finally, back in August 2010, The Last Exorcism became a surprise hit when it earned over $20 million on its debut frame. This weekend, The Last Exorcism Part II is expected to make just $8.5 million – less than its predecessor realized on its first day.  We’ll have complete details and the top ten tomorrow.

2013 has not been a banner year at the box office by any stretch of the imagination, but this weekend will set a new low. For the first time in months, no film took in $15 million. That includes the first-place Identity Thief, which was back on top in its third frame. With an estimated $14.1 million, Identity Thief barely edged out the $13 million debut of Snitch but, when we’re talking numbers this small, gloating over rank seems a little pointless.

A disappointing month will come to a disappointing end this weekend as the box office offers up yet another underwhelming frame. How underwhelming? While last year gave us a surprisingly-strong debut in Act of Valor ($24.4 million), not one title is expected to reach $15 million by Oscar Sunday. Among new releases, Snitch is in the best shape. The action flick starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson won a narrow victory on Friday: taking in an estimated $4.14 million from 2,511 locations. Snitch should see a $12 million debut, though that won’t be enough to beat Identity Thief. The comedy holdover took in $4.1 million on Friday, but is expected to earn $13 million over its third weekend in theatres. Debuting in fourth place, Dark Skies earned an estimated $3 million from 2,313 locations. The extraterrestrial-thriller is projected to make $8.4 million through Oscar Sunday, putting it behind holdovers like Safe Haven, Escape from Planet Earth and A Good Day to Die Hard. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

Though much of the Northeast is still drowning under an ocean of snow, Blizzard Nemo didn’t sink the national box office. In first place, Identity Thief took in an estimated $36.5 million, for the highest three-day total so far this year. The R-rated comedy is looking like a solid hit – coming in 40% higher than first projected and 73% higher than Side Effects, the weekend’s only other wide release.

With movie theatres closed from New Jersey to Maine, box office watchers expect overall grosses to be down again this weekend. But while Blizzard Nemo battered the East Coast, the rest of the country appeared ready to pick up the slack. Identity Thief, the new comedy from director Seth Gordon, brought in an estimated $11.2 million from its 3,141 locations on Friday. The film, which was expected to take in around $25 million through Sunday, should now come closer to $35 million. Not only is that more than most expected from Identity Thief, it’s also more than Gordon’s last hit, Horrible Bosses, made on its own opening weekend in 2011. The news was not as good for Side Effects, the weekend’s second wide release. Steven Soderbergh’s drama grossed an estimated $2.8 million from 2,605 locations on Friday – far less than the $7.9 million the director earned with 2011′s Contagion.  Check back tomorrow for complete details.

It wasn’t even close. Against a handful of holdovers and one weak new release, Summit Entertainment’s Warm Bodies walked off with this year’s Super Bowl box office prize. From 3,009 locations, the zombie comedy earned an estimated $20 million – more than twice the total of the number two title. Bullet to the Head, the frame’s only other wide release, took in just $4.5 million from 2,404 locations for a sixth place finish.

Conventional wisdom tells us that people don’t go to the movies on Super Bowl weekend. Of course, that wisdom has been tested by the big debuts of Hannah Montana: The Best of Both Worlds, Taken and Dear John, in recent years. In 2013, Warm Bodies should become the latest title to buck Super Bowl convention. The teen-zombie romance earned an estimated $8.1 million from 3,009 locations on Friday, including $600,000 from its midnight premieres. That puts the film on track for a three-day total of $20 million instead of the low-to-mid teens that had been projected. Projections also failed to gauge the future of the frame’s second wide release: Bullet to the Head. The Sylvester Stallone action movie was expected to earn between $6 and $7 million this weekend – in the manner of Schwarzenegger’s recent The Last Stand. Instead, Bullet to the Head took in an estimated $1.7 million from 2,404 locations on Friday, placing its three-day prospects at just $4.6 million. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

After three relatively strong frames, a January chill has hit the box office. Three new titles opened nationwide but only one managed to top $10 million: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters with an estimated $19 million from 3,372 locations. That was good enough for first place and higher than Friday’s results suggested, but it was not high enough to put a positive spin on the weekend.

Nearly a year after it was first scheduled to hit theatres, Paramount’s Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is poised to take first place at the weekend box office. The R-rated fantasy starring Jeremy Renner earned an estimated $6 million from its 3,372 locations on Friday, suggesting a three-day total of $15 million. That’s $5 million short of studio expectations; but it’s not bad for a film with a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fellow-newcomer Movie 43 claimed a 6% RT rank and see what happened? On Friday, the collection of comedy shorts earned $1.8 million from 2,023 locations and is looking at a weekend of just $5 million. FilmDistrict’s Parker, the last of the R-rated newcomers, saw an opening of $2.1 million from 2,224 locations. The action movie could get as high as $6 million by Sunday: an opening that would fall below both Killer Elite and Safe on the list of Jason Statham’s recent disappointments. Check back tomorrow for full results.