It looks like Universal’s decision to move up the release date for Lucy will go down as one of the summer’s smartest plays.  Director Luc Besson’s sci-fi pic was supposed to open in August – not exactly an endorsement of its strong box office potential.  But arriving two weeks earlier than planned, Lucy is now aiming for one of the best sci-fi debuts of 2014 with at least $45 million.  That’s double what the R-rated title was originally projected to earn and is more than enough to make fellow newcomer Hercules look puny by comparison.  The action pic starring Dwayne Johnson came in second on Friday and should earn $28 million on its debut weekend.  That’s right on track with early projections for the film, though the number was supposed to equal a first place finish for the son of Zeus.

Hit the jump for Friday’s top five.

If the Friday box office is any indication, it’s going to be another meh weekend at the movies.  After pulling in an impressive $72.6 million in its debut, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes should remain on top for a second frame – although it was surpassed on Friday by newcomer The Purge: Anarchy.  The successor to last summer’s R-rated thriller earned an estimated $13 million and took first place on Friday.  For its first weekend, however, the sequel is expected to earn $28 million, and that means Apes 2 should overtake it in the three-day race.  In its sophomore frame, Apes is expected to bring in about $34 million, which would give it one of the best holds among this summer’s major releases.

Details on Sex Tape, Planes: Fire & Rescue and Friday’s top five are after the jump.

Transformers: Age of Extinction remained on top of the box office for an eighth straight day on Friday, earning an estimated $10.6 million to easily dominate the week’s three new releases.  All of the new titles opened on July second and, as expected, Warner Bros.’ Tammy was strongest.  The comedy took second place with an estimated $6.6 million yesterday, putting its three-day total at $18.1 million.  Fellow newcomers Deliver Us From Evil and Earth to Echo battled in the middle of the pack, with less than $250,000 separating their debuts from holdovers How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 22 Jump Street, both of which are entering their fourth weekend in theatres.

Details and Friday’s top six films after the jump.

Three years after their last box office bow, the Transformers are back.  The fourth installment in Paramount’s giant robot franchise took in an estimated $41.6 million at Friday’s box office, including $8.75 million from Thursday pm previews.  That puts the bots on track for about $98 million through Sunday: the same range that Transformers: Dark of the Moon landed on this weekend in 2011.  Of course, Transformers 3 opened on a Wednesday, so by the time it locked in its $97.8 million debut weekend it had also collected $65 million from its first two days in theatres.  Even without the head start, Transformers 4 should deliver this year’s biggest opening weekend – stripping Captain America: The Winter Soldier of the title it has held since April.

Hit the jump for details and Friday’s top five films.

It’s another sequel-heavy weekend and another big frame for Sony.  After claiming first place last weekend with 22 Jump Street, the studio is on top again thanks to Think Like a Man Too.  The follow-up to 2012’s surprise box office hit earned an estimated $12.2 million from 2,225 locations on Friday, including $1.8 million from Thursday night previews.  That puts the sequel on track for at least $32 million through Sunday: enough to knock 22 Jump Street to second but not quite enough to surpass the $33.6 million debut of Think Like A Man.

Details and Friday’s top five chart after the jump.

On its first day in theatres, Disney’s Maleficent earned an estimated $24.2 million from 3,948 locations, including $4.2 million from Thursday evening previews.  That puts PG-rated fantasy on track for over $60 million through Sunday, which is in line with pre-release expectations.  Maleficent pushed last weekend’s X-Men: Days of Future Past into second place.  The all-star mutant sequel picked up a few large format theatres formerly held by Godzilla, but was still down 73% on Friday.  The X-Men are expected to earn about $30 million in their sophomore frame, bringing their global cume close to $400 million.

Which brings us to A Million Ways to Die in the West.  The Seth MacFarlane Western earned an estimated $6.1 million from 3,158 locations on Friday – well below even the lowest projection for the R-rated comedy.  Though Westerns have had a hard time breaking through at the box office, Universal hoped that MacFarlane’s success with Ted would be enough to secure at least $25 million for his follow-up’s first weekend.  Instead, A Million Ways to Die in the West may bring in under $15 million in its first three days – about what Adam Sandler’s Blended opened with one week ago. Ouch.

Opening estimates are in for X-Men: Days of Future Past and it looks like the franchise is on its way to its best debut since 2006.  From 3,996 locations, Days of Future Past brought in an estimated $36 million on Friday, including $8.1 million from Thursday pm previews.  That’s the second-highest opening day this year, behind last Friday’s monster Godzilla launch.  The all-star X-Men sequel is expected to bring in close to $95 million through Sunday, which would put it just under 2014′s weekend title holder: Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  In terms of the four-day holiday, Days of Future Past is projected to earn about $113 million.  That would qualify as one of the top five Memorial Day debuts of all time, behind last year’s Fast & Furious 6 and 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand.

The weekend’s other major release, Blended, got off to a disappointing start.  The romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore earned an estimated $4.4 million from 3,555 locations, which suggests that $20 million for the four-day holiday is now out of reach.  We’ll have updates on the holiday box office later this weekend.

The “King of the Monsters” Godzilla made a triumphant return to movie theaters this weekend, and it looks as though the monster is making his presence very known.  Director Gareth Edwards’ new film Godzilla scored a huge $38.5 million on Friday, which puts the film on track for an incredibly impressive $98 million debut.  That’s way above the pre-release predictions, and the film could topple the superhero debuts of Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($95 million) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($91.6 million) earlier this year.  Though some are inexplicably complaining that the film isn’t two hours of non-stop CG-overload, reviews for Godzilla are generally positive, and it appears that the excellent marking campaign brought in considerable interest.

Check out Friday’s full box office report after the jump.

One week into the summer movie season and we already have an upset.  Neighbors came out strong on Friday, earning an estimated $19.6 million from 3,279 locations, including $2.56 million from Thursday previews.  That puts the film on track for as much as $50 million this weekend, which would rate as one of the highest original R-rated comedy debuts of all time.  At the very least Neighbors will far exceed the $30 million that Universal said they were expecting.

Friday’s Top Five after the jump

The first weekend in May has arrived, and with it the official start of 2014’s summer movie season.  Over the past two years this particular frame has hosted the two biggest domestic debuts of all time, with Marvel’s The Avengers and Iron Man 3.  Next to its Marvel brethren, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may look a bit weak by comparison; but compared to 2012’s first The Amazing Spider-Man, the sequel looks like a home run.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened at 4,234 locations yesterday and brought in an estimated $35.5 million, including $8.7 million from Thursday pm previews.  That’s just a bit lower than the $36.9 million ($10.2 million Thursday) that Captain America: The Winter Soldier earned in its debut last month.  Assuming the pattern holds, Amazing 2 should earn $94 million for its first three days.  Though a debut of $100 million is still technically possible, a failure to reach that goal will not in any way signal failure for the sequel.  Keep in mind that The Amazing Spider-Man brought in just $62 million for its first weekend in July 2012 and that its sequel has already earned over $155 million in limited international release.  We’ll have complete details tomorrow.

After three weeks on top of the box office, Captain America: The Winter Soldier has been vanquished.  The Marvel hit passed Thor: The Dark World’s final domestic gross earlier this week and, on its fourth weekend in theatres, is expected to stay strong in second place.  That makes The Other Woman the new number one film in America.  The Cameron Diaz comedy earned an estimated $9.3 million from 3,204 locations on Friday, putting it on track for $25 million this weekend.  That’s less than the $31.6 million debut of Diaz’s Bad Teacher, in 2011, but well above the $17 million that was projected.

The Other Woman aside, Friday was a hard day for new titles.  The action-drama Brick Mansions, featuring the late Paul Walker, earned an estimated $3.6 million in fourth place, while the PG-13 horror title The Quiet Ones brought in a very soft $1.5 million at number six.  We’ll have complete details on this weekend’s box office tomorrow.

After collecting $10.2 million from its Thursday night previews, Captain America: The Winter Soldier earned an estimated $37 million from 3,938 locations on Friday – setting a new record for the highest domestic opening day in April.  That means that The Winter Soldier should also secure a new weekend record for the month with close to $95 million.  April’s previous box office champ was Fast Five, which took in $34.3 million on its first day and $86.2 million for its first weekend in 2011.

After Thursday’s estimate, it looked like Captain America: The Winter Soldier would have a shot at hitting $100 million in its debut: a number that would put the First Avenger in the company of Batman, Iron Man and other blockbuster superheroes who hit triple digits on their first weekends.  This morning, however, it looks like Captain America will fall short of that mark – though it will still best the $85.7 million debut of Thor: The Dark World last November.  The Winter Soldier has already earned almost $100 million from its international markets since last weekend, which means the Disney/Marvel sequel will be close to $200 million in worldwide grosses after ten days.  That’s already over half of the final global total of 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger – and that’s before China releases its estimate for the sequel’s opening this weekend.  We’ll have full details and the weekend top ten tomorrow.

This weekend will not be a wash for Darren Aronofsky’s Noah.  The controversial biblical epic opened with $15.2 million from 3,500 locations yesterday, including $1.6 million from Thursday pm previews.  That puts Noah on course for close to $44 million through Sunday – well above the $33 million Paramount said it was expecting.  Anything above $43.5 million would also give Russell Crowe the best opening of his career (outside of his supporting turn in Man of Steel).

The weekend’s second major release should also mark a career milestone for star Arnold Schwarzenegger, though not the kind stars typically strive for.  Sabotage – Arnie’s third major release since January 2013 – could end up as his worst debut since Red Sonja, in 1985.  From its 2,486 locations, Sabotage brought in $1.82 million on Friday, which suggests an opening weekend in the $5-$6 million range.  Finally, after two weeks in limited release, director Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel expanded to almost 1,000 locations on Friday, making it into the domestic top five with just under $2.4 million.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

It’s not exactly The Hunger Games reborn, but Divergent, the latest heir to the YA throne of Katniss and Bella, has pulled in an impressive first day nonetheless.  From 3,936 locations, Divergent earned an estimated $22.8 million, including $4.9 million from its Thursday night previews.  The Lionsgate/Summit release should pull in at least $53 million through Sunday.  That’s on par with studio expectations for the film, but it’s only a third of what The Hunger Games earned on the same weekend in 2012.

Coming in second on Friday was Muppets Most Wanted, the follow-up to Disney’s 2011 Muppet reboot.  The sequel earned an estimated $4.6 million from its 3,194 locations, which should add up to an opening close to $18 million this weekend.  There’s a surprise in third place, in the form of God’s Not Dead.  An independent faith-based feature, God’s Not Dead pulled in a reported $2.8 million from its first day in just 780 venues.  That beat more mainstream holdovers like Mr. Peabody and Sherman and 300: Rise of an Empire on Friday, though God is expected to fall out of the top five this weekend.  Check back for details tomorrow.

DreamWorks Pictures’ Need for Speed took the trophy for the Friday box office, but it’s not exactly a Daytona 500 performance.  The 3D racing film had been projected to win the weekend box office with a total take of $25 million to $30 million, but its Friday number is a soft $6.6 million, on track for a weekend take of $21 million or less.  The streak of subpar video game adaptations continues with director Scott Waugh’s racing pic, which has suffered brutal reviews (it’s both dumb and boring) and failed to muster up enthusiasm from general audiences.  Hot on Need for Speed’s tail is a film in its second week of release, DreamWorks Animation’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  While the film was bested by 300: Rise of an Empire last weekend, it brought in $5.4 million this Friday and should enjoy a nice family boost today, topping off at around $22 million for a photo-finish with Need for Speed.  The 300 sequel came in second on Friday with $5.8 million and should gross a solid $18 or $19 million this weekend, while Veronica Mars opened to just over $1 million for the number 9 spot.