She may have been overlooked by the Academy, but director Kathryn Bigelow has been avenged at the box office. Zero Dark Thirty, the “controversial” CIA thriller that has been enjoying incredible success in limited release, is now a success on a much wider scale. The Best Picture nominee took first place on Friday with an estimated $9 million from 2,937 runs. With its three-day take expected to top $25 million, Zero Dark Thirty will remain on top through Sunday, giving Bigelow the first number one hit of her career. Once the presumptive pick for the top spot, Warner Brothers’ Gangster Squad had to settle for third on Friday. The R-rated crime drama, which has had its own share of controversy following the events in Aurora and Newtown, earned an estimated $6.6 million from 3,103 locations – just under the $6.7 million estimate of the new R-rated comedy A Haunted House. With Django Unchained in fourth, it looks like the four highest-grossing domestic films will all carry an R-rating this weekend – the equivalent of a solar eclipse in box office parlance. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

2012’s box office ended with a record-breaking total of $10.83 billion; but as of Wednesday we wiped that slate clean for another year. In a repeat of 2012, the first weekend of the New Year features just one nationwide release and – also like 2012 – that release belongs to the horror genre. Texas Chainsaw 3D, the sixth feature in the “Texas Chainsaw” franchise, opened in 2,654 locations at 10 pm on Thursday. With a first-day estimate of $10.2 million, Texas Chainsaw 3D should top $20 million by Sunday. That’s far short of the $33.7 million The Devil Inside earned at this time last year; though anything over $15 million would beat industry expectations. A debut north of $20 million would also be enough to give Texas Chainsaw 3D the win over December’s holdovers. After three weekends at number one, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is expected to fall to third place, with Django Unchained in second. Projections are very close among this weekend’s top four titles, however, so check back tomorrow to see how 2013’s first box office winds up.

‘Tis the season for lots of movies, fa la la la… oh, you know the rest. Always a crowded period, this holiday season saw Hollywood’s major releases packed into just a seven day span – leaving The Hobbit plenty of room to grow into a blockbuster. Part one of Peter Jackson’s trilogy ended its first week with $113.2 million in the US, and added another $10.1 million (estimated) to that total yesterday. Despite an onslaught of new titles – including Jack Reacher and This is 40 on Friday – An Unexpected Journey is expected to stay on top until Christmas Day, when Les Miserables has a chance to unseat it.

Here’s a look at Friday’s top five:

Nine years after The Return of the King wrapped up director Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Middle Earth is back.  An Unexpected Journey, the first of three films Jackson based on JRR Tolkein’s The Hobbit, debuted yesterday in 4,045 locations. That included 3,160 3D and 461 ‘HFR’ 3D sites and was a record launch for December. No surprise, then, that The Hobbit is set to smash many more records this month. On its first full day in theatres, An Unexpected Journey took in an estimated $37.5 million, including $13 million from 3,100 midnight premieres. That ranks as the all-time best debut for December, topping the $34.4 million The Return of the King earned on its Wednesday, 2003 premiere.  Weekend projections for The Hobbit are in the $95 million range, which would easily top I Am Legend‘s all-time December record of $77.2 million. An Unexpected Journey already took in $27.2 million overseas ahead of its US debut, making a $200 million worldwide total a real possibility by the end of this weekend.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

After a record-setting Thanksgiving frame, the domestic box office is headed towards its traditional, post-holiday slump. Though weekend receipts should top 2011 levels, there is little to get excited about at the multiplex: no new, major-studio releases and no change in the domestic top three. That means that, for the third straight week, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 will be on top, followed closely by Skyfall, which now ranks as the highest-grossing spy movie in US history. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln will remain in third place while Rise of the Guardians continues to struggle entering its sophomore frame. Even with its very modest expectations, The Weinstein Co.’s Killing Them Softly is being called a disappointment. On its first day in 2,424 locations, the R-rated film starring Brad Pitt is expected to earn just $7 million over its first three days. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

Estimates are in for the opening day of Breaking Dawn Part 2 and, as expected, it’s a monster. Summit Entertainment is reporting that, from 4,070 locations, the final chapter in The Twilight Saga took in a reported $71.2 million. As big as that is (and it is the sixth highest first day of all time), it is not a record for the franchise. It is slightly under the starts of both 2009’s New Moon ($72.7 million) and last year’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 ($71.6 million). To make things more complicated, the Friday estimate for Breaking Dawn Part 2 includes the film’s Thursday 10 pm previews, which adds a little asterisk to the stats. Yesterday, we told you that Part 2 took in $30.4 million from its 10 pm and midnight shows combined; and because no one knows exactly how much those Thursday screenings produced, it remains difficult to rank the last Twilight against its predecessors – none of which debuted before midnight. Putting Thursday aside, no should be confused about how big the last Twilight will be. Though weekend projections have been scaled back – from over $150 million yesterday to less-than Breaking Dawn Part 1’s $138.1 million today – either way, Twilight 5 will wind up with one of the highest openings of 2012. Add in the $38.8 million the film has already earned overseas and Breaking Dawn Part 2 will close the Twilight Saga out in style. We’ll have full box office coverage on Sunday, including details on Lincoln.

For weeks, we’ve known that Skyfall was going to be huge. After the 23^rd film in the James Bond franchise rocketed through its initial international engagements two weeks ago, a giant US opening was all but guaranteed. Even so, Skyfall is now on track to be even more of a giant than we suspected. On Friday, Skyfall earned an estimated $30.8 million from its 3,503 locations, midnight screenings included. Add that to the $2.2 million 007 took in from his 463 IMAX premieres on Thursday and it looks like the secret agent could soar as high as $84 million by the end of the weekend. That would blow the previous Bond record of $67.8 million (set in 2008 by Quantum of Solace) out of the air. In fact, it’s possible that Skyfall could climb as high as $500 million worldwide by Monday. Given that Daniel Craig’s first two turns as 007 took weeks to reach that same mark, the achievement would be especially impressive. Big as it was, Skyfall wasn’t the only film making news at the box office. With its platform release in just eleven locations, Steven Spielberg’s critically-lauded Lincoln earned an estimated $268,000 on Friday, or an average of $24,376 per theatre.  We’ll have full details on this weekend’s box office tomorrow.

It seems that the effects of Hurricane Sandy will not extend to the box office. In spite of the mess the storm made of the East Coast, November got off to a strong start at the multiplex with two impressive Friday debuts and an overall weekend expected to top 2011 by about 15%. Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph did the most damage: easily capturing first place with an estimated $13.4 million from 3,752 locations. The PG-rated toon is expected to take in $50 million by Sunday, making Wreck-It Ralph Disney’s biggest non-Pixar animated debut ever. Paramount’s Flight landed in second place with an estimated $8.1 million. Considering that the drama was in far fewer locations (1,900), however, Flight looks like the break-out hit of the frame. The Man with the Iron Fists saw a more modest opening. The R-rated action film took in $3 million from 1,868 runs and should end the weekend in the $8 million range.  We’ll have complete details tomorrow.

With four new wide releases, you’d think the box office would be primed to close out October with another strong weekend. You’d be wrong. The prospects for the four newbies – including Cloud Atlas and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D – looked shaky even before the so-called ‘Frankenstorm’ trained its eye on America’s East Coast. Now, a combination of poor Cinemascores and Hurricane hysteria seems poised to put Argo on top with one of the lowest first-place wins since September. On its third Friday in theatres, Argo edged out Silent Hill 2 and Cloud Atlas for first with an estimated $4 million. The Ben Affleck drama is expected to stay on top (for its first weekend win) while Silent Hill falls to number four. That means that Cloud Atlas, the epic drama co-directed by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer, should move into second place with close to $10 million – $3 million under initial projections. If the Cloud Atlas debut seems disappointing, however, it could have been worse. Despite a big release in 3,014 locations, Paramount’s Fun Size just missed Friday’s top ten with its estimate of $1.3 million. Fox’s Chasing Mavericks, with Gerard Butler, fared even worse: twelfth place on Friday with $1 million from 2,002 runs.

After taking in $4.5 million from its Thursday late shows and midnight screening, Paranormal Activity 4 easily captured first place on Friday with an estimated $15 million. That puts the film on track for about $34 million by Sunday – an impressive figure that, nonetheless, falls short of most projections for the four year-old franchise. Twelve months ago, Paranormal Activity 3 earned $26.3 million on its first day, on its way to an all-time October opening record of $52.5 million. And while few expected PA 4 to come close to that total, the latest entry in Paramount’s crazy-profitable horror franchise should have had no trouble reaching the $40 million mark. Then again, because PA 4 is expected to earn twelve times its budget in worldwide grosses by Sunday, the word ‘disappointment’ does not exactly leap to mind. That word might better apply to this weekend’s second new release, Alex Cross. The thriller, starring Tyler Perry as author James Patterson’s popular crime solver, earned an estimated $4 million from 2,539 runs on Friday. That puts Alex Cross on track for a weekend in the $13 million range: well below the $20 million openings that Perry (as star AND director) has grown accustomed to.  Full details tomorrow.

Five, count ‘em, five new releases entered the box office race on Friday, though it looks like none of them will be able to unseat Taken 2 by the time weekend estimates are out. First on Friday was Sinister with an estimated $7.5 million from 2,527 runs. With Paranormal Activity 4 waiting in the wings, the R-rated horror movie barely registered a week ago; but with a scary-effective marketing campaign and well-attended late shows, Sinister took the lead on its first day out. By Sunday, however, Sinister should fall behind Taken 2 and Argo. The well-reviewed feature from director Ben Affleck placed third with an estimated $5.9 million from 3,232 runs on Friday and is expected to get close to $20 million by weekend’s end. Among wide releases, Here Comes the Boom had the most trouble. Opening in 3,014 locations, the comedy placed fifth with an estimated $3.6 million. The final two players in Friday’s box office crush fell below the top five. CBS Films’ Seven Psychopaths earned an estimated $1.4 million for ninth place from 1,480 locations while Atlas Shrugged: Part II, in a head-scratching 1,012 runs, failed to crack  $1 million.

October’s box office got off to an impressive start on Friday with the launch of Taken 2. More than three years after Liam Neeson and his “very particular set of skills” captivated audiences in Taken, the sequel took in an estimated $18.6 million from 3,661 locations on its opening day. That puts Taken 2 on track for a $50 million first weekend – more than double what its predecessor realized in its debut and just shy of the all-time October opening record set last year by Paranormal Activity 3. After setting a new record for a September opening last weekend, Hotel Transylvania remained a force on Friday with its second-place estimate of $6.5 million. Unfortunately, that was not good news for Disney’s Frankenweenie. With its similar theme and target audience, the stop-motion animated film from director Tim Burton fell short of Hotel Transylvania: earning an estimated $3.3 million from its 3,005 locations towards what should be a $12 million opening frame. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

It’s a good weekend to be Sony Pictures. The studio claimed the two top spots on Friday with Hotel Transylvania and Looper, and saw both new releases perform well above expectations. In first place, Hotel Transylvania earned an estimated $11 million from 3,349 runs. The animated film will easily win the weekend with almost $40 million: a record for a Sony Animation release and at least $10 million more than initially projected. Looper is also off to a strong start. Released under Sony’s TriStar label, the sci-fi feature took in an estimated $6.9 million on Friday from 2,992 locations. With strong word of mouth behind it, Looper could realize over $20 million through Sunday: well above the openings of recent R-rated releases. The weekend’s third wide opening, the Fox drama Won’t Back Down, fell below the top five with an estimated $921,000 from 2,515 locations. That was about the number Universal might have expected from its early release of Pitch Perfect. Debuting in just 335 locations ahead of its nationwide opening next week, the comedy took in an estimated $1.75 million on Friday. We’ll have full details and analysis tomorrow.

Welcome to another disappointing weekend at the domestic box office. Four new titles debuted on Friday, but none is expected to reach $15 million by Sunday. That means that overall profits will be down for the fifth frame in a row. Despite the low grosses, Friday’s top five contained a few surprises. Few expected big things from End of Watch, the cop drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal; but after posting a Friday estimate of $4.6 million from just 2,730 runs, the R-rated indie has a shot at winning the weekend with a projected $13.5 million. Relativity’s House at the End of the Street was also a surprise ‘hit’ on Friday, earning an estimated $4.64 million from 3,083 locations to edge out End of Watch for first. The PG-13 thriller with Jennifer Lawrence is expected to fall in the rankings this weekend, but should still end up with $13 million for its first three days. Meanwhile, the film that was supposed to eclipse both of these smaller-releases – Warner Brother’s Trouble with the Curve – will struggle to match them this weekend. The baseball drama starring Clint Eastwood earned $4.1 million from 3,212 locations on Friday, making it unlikely that the PG-13 pic will reach the $18 million first-weekend that was projected. Finally, an enthusiastic reception at Comic-Con promised a solid opening for Lionsgate’s 3D comic reboot Dredd 3D. Instead, the R-rated feature took in just $2.2 million for what looks like a dismal $6.5 million first weekend.  We’ll have full details and analysis tomorrow.

After enduring the worst weekend since 2008 (and a couple more low weekends besides), the box office received a much-needed boost on Friday from a pair of familiar features. Resident Evil: Retribution was yesterday’s clear winner, earning an estimated $8.4 million from 3,012 locations. The fifth entry in the Resident Evil franchise, Retribution is expected to take in $22 million through Sunday – a slight decline from the $26.6 million posted by Resident Evil: Afterlife on this weekend in 2010. The last RE feature (and the first to feature 3D effects), Afterlife went on to earn almost $300 million worldwide – 79% of that from international audiences. 3D technology also claimed second place at the Friday box office with the debut of Finding Nemo 3D. The first Pixar classic to get a 3D make-over since the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature, Nemo 3D earned an estimated $5.1 million from 2,904 runs for what is expected to be a debut weekend in the $18 million range. Finally, in just 5 theatres in New York and LA, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master broke records for a limited release with a giant per-screen average of $48,425. Full details and analysis tomorrow.