Reports that audiences were afraid to see The Dark Knight Rises on the weekend after the Aurora tragedy turned out to be not so true. Yes, the film had a steeper than usual drop on Friday but then rebounded nicely; taking first place with an estimated $64 million. It must have been the week’s two new releases that people were ‘hesitant’ to see. Neither The Watch nor Step Up Revolution made it out of the low teens on their opening frame.

Super Bowl weekend is not known for its huge debuts – 2010 being the notable exception.  And with much of the country still dealing with their endless winter nightmares and the rest transfixed by the game, this weekend has a good excuse for its low numbers.

As the current 3D trend is taking over movie theaters everywhere, it’s now poised to invade your living room.  In order to complement the surge in production of 3D televisions and Blu-ray players, The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) has announced 36 titles set to be available just in time for the holiday season, with dozens more to follow in early 2011.  10 of the titles will hit stores on November 16, just in time for Black Friday.

The releases include a wide range of titles from AIX Records, DreamWorks Animation, Giant Screen Films, Image Entertainment, IMAX Corporation, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video. It also includes a number of high-profile titles that will be released as exclusives for certain 3D televisions. “We are excited to see so much industry support for bringing Blu-ray 3D home,” said Ron Sanders, President, Warner Home Video and President, DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. “And now, consumers buying 3D home entertainment systems over Black Friday weekend will have ample 3D programming to accompany them.” For a full list of films being released on 3D Blu-ray for the holidays, hit the jump.

The estimates are in and it looks like, for once, the financial analysts got it right… I mean the box office analysts. Oh, what’s the difference anyway? There was indeed enough equity left in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street premise after 23 years to put the sequel – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – in the top spot for the weekend with an estimated $19 million.

No surprises here. Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and The Other Guys were expected to take number one this weekend and they did – earning an estimated $35.6 million from 3,651 locations – knocking Inception down to number two for the first time in four weeks.

For the second Friday in a row comedy is king at the box office. The Other Guys, the latest effort from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, pulled in an estimated $13.2 million in its debut at 3,650 locations. That puts the action comedy on track for a $35 million weekend – easily enough to knock off Inception as the country’s number one film after three weeks. Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster was third on Friday, though its continued staying power should afford it a second place finish by Sunday. Which brings us to Step Up 3D. The dance extravaganza launched in 2,435 locations on Friday – a big 75% of which featured all three glorious dimensions. The sequel’s estimated first day take was $6.6 million: the same amount that Step Up 2 the Streets made on day one back in February 2008. That points to a third place finish in the $16 million range for the weekend. That’s higher than I expected for a movie with no plot… even one in 3D.