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Man of Steel earned an estimated $44 million on Friday: its first official day in theaters. That total includes $9 million from midnight screenings but not the $12 million from the “advanced screenings” that began Thursday night at 7 pm. So far, the Superman reboot has earned over $56 million in its US debut and is now on track for around $112 million (or $124 total) through Sunday. That would give Man of Steel the highest June opening of all time: ahead of both Toy Story 3 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - though the latter’s Wednesday release date makes comparing weekend results somewhat pointless.

The takeaway here is that Man of Steel is in excellent shape. With or without Thursday night’s grosses, the film will far exceed Warner Brothers’ projection of $85 million by Sunday - a number it took Superman Returns six days to reach back in 2006.  We’ll have more box office news tomorrow including coverage of This is The End, the comedy that is successfully counter-programming Superman.

 Title

Friday

Total

1.

 Man of Steel

$44,050,000

$56.05

2.

 This is the End

$6,850,000

$19.15

3.

 Now You See Me

$3,290,000

$72.9

4.

 The Purge

$2,900,000

$46.5

5.

 Fast & Furious 6

$2,700,000

$212.8