Friday Box Office – Still No Cure for THE HANGOVER

The so-called summer season continued this week with the release of two completely unanticipated releases – “The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3″ with Denzel Washington and another Eddie Murphy family film – does it really matter what it’s called at this point?  The R-rated “Pelham” came in third with close to $9 million on its way to a respectable weekend take in the $20 million range. The Eddie Murphy flick “Imagine That” surprised no one by bombing badly – coming in at #6 with only $1.8 million on Friday.  Last week’s sleeper hit “The Hangover” was the holdover winner for Friday, earning another $10 million after an impressive weekday average of $6.2 million per day.  Pixar’s “Up” continued to dominate at number two, though “The Hangover” will most likely take the weekend.  The only real questions now are how close can “Pelham” come to number one and how far back will “Imagine That” end up?  Check back tomorrow for the final estimates…