The second film in Peter’s Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy will open lower than its predecessor, as expected.  The Desolation of Smaug took in an estimated $31.1 million from 3,903 locations on Friday, including $8.8 million from midnight previews.  That puts the sequel on track for around $75 million this weekend.  At this time last year, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey took in $37.1 million on Friday and $84 million in its first three days – a record for a December launch.  Few expected the second film to equal those numbers, so a debut of $75 million should be enough to avoid the ‘disappointing’ label.

Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas will have to shoulder this weekend’s disappointment all on its own.  The fifth film featuring the popular Perry character took in an estimated $5.7 million on Friday, on its way to a first weekend total of $17 million.  That would make Christmas the first Madea film to open below $25 million, not to mention one of the lower openings of Tyler Perry’s career.  We’ll have complete details tomorrow