Sony Pictures and Mark Steven Johnson’s adaptation of Marvel Comics Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes, rode home with an estimated $15.9 million its opening Friday, about $600,000 more than Johnson’s Daredevil opened with over Presidents’ Day weekend four years ago. With that impressive of an opening, Ghost Rider is looking likely to set a new record for a Presidents’ Day weekend opener if it hold up well enough to make over $45.1 million over the four-day weekend. (UPDATE: It has come close to making that amount in just three days, which means it will be setting a new holiday record likely to be over $50 million.) Either way, it’s likely to become Nicolas Cage’s biggest opening movie to date by topping his 2004 hit National Treasure.
Meanwhile, Disney and Walden Media’s Bridge to Terabithia, based on the popular children’s novel, earned roughly $6.3 million yesterday and is likely to end the four-day weekend in second place with somewhere in the mid to high $20 million range.
Opening yesterday in only 1,487 theatres, Universal’s Breach starring Chris Cooper, earned an estimated $2.9 million its opening day.
Having opened on Valentine’s Day Wednesday, Music and Lyrics held up better on Friday than Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls, making $4.1 million and $2.9 million respectively.
Check back on Monday for a full report on the weekend earnings for the Top 12 movies at the box office.
