Yesterday we reported the mediocre early ‘The Incredible Hulk’ box office estimates, but it turns out these numbers were slightly on the low side. Louis Leterrier’s new Hulk grossed over $21 million yesterday, giving it a shot at a $55 million box office weekend. We know it’s no ‘Iron Man’ by now, but it will be a decent opening nonetheless. In line with the opening numbers by ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ last month. Notable is that ‘The Incredible Hulk’ won’t beat ‘The Hulk’ by Ang Lee in 2003, which made $62 million during its opening weekend.

Happening’s box office Friday was in line with what we reported yesterday. The awful thriller made $12.8 million, a little higher than the $12.5 mill we reported. It will definitely top Shyamalan’s last endeavor ‘Lady in the Water,’ which only made $18 million during its opening in 2006. ‘The Happening’ is still looking to surpass $30 million for the total weekend.

Last week’s movies are performing in line with our expectations from the weekly box office roundup. ‘Kung Fu Panda’ had another good Friday with a $10 million gross. While ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’ went down to just $5.5 mill for the day.

Does the name M. Night Shyamalan still sell movie tickets? A couple, sure. But the big numbers are long gone. It was pretty much downhill from ‘The Sixth Sense.’ His latest thriller was a drama. Not as in the genre drama, but as in a box office drama. It only made $2 million more than its $70 million budget. Will ‘The Happening’ beat that? It’s too early to tell. But it has the ‘benefit’ the studios didn’t give Shyamalan more than a $57 million budget to play with.

It looks like ‘The Happening’ will be mostly dependant on its reception and word of mouth. Because the movies’ box office opening won’t cut it. While numbers might improve during the week, when marketing will be in full motion, the box office tracking numbers indicate a $20-30 million opening. A little stronger than his latest endeavor ‘Lady in the Water.’ Here are the tracking numbers:

Continue reading Early ‘The Happening’ tracking numbers decent