TIGHT FIVE-WAY RACE PREDICTED AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

Box office forecasters, who have whiffed the past few weeks in predicting weekend results, may be playing it tight at the plate this time around. They’re simply saying that the second week of 20th Century Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the debuts of Warner Bros.’ Final Destination 5 and DreamWorks’s The Help will all come in at around $20 million, with the likelihood of Apes edging out the other two. That would leave the other two new films, Sony’s 30 Minutes or Less and Fox’s Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, duking it out for fourth place with around $15-20 million. But several writers are calling Glee a real wild card and note that if it is successful in attracting a big chunk of its 10-million-plus TV audience, it could rise to the top. In an interview with USA Today, Glee director Kevin Tancharoen predicted, “Glee fans will come out and support this movie. … At the end of the day, that’s who it’s for.” But the Los Angeles Times commented that “it’s unclear how many of those self-described ‘Gleeks’ will be interested in shelling out money for a pricey 3D ticket, especially when they’ve seen a number of the the same songs on TV.”
UPDATE:
Daily Variety reported on Saturday that Rise of the Planet of the Apes rose to the top Friday — but just barely. The trade publication said that Rise took in $8.1 million, edging out The Help with $7.63 million and Final Destination 5 with $7.34 million. Two other new releases fell far behind. 30 Minutes or Less wound up with $4.85 million, wile Fox’s Glee the 3D Concert Movie earned $2.73 million.