By Tim Briody

With the hottest new action star, a wicked advertising campaign, a late-summer release date and Samuel L. Jackson to boot, Vin Diesel's xXx was primed to make a huge splash with its opening this weekend. It'll easily top the box office this weekend by a good margin, but it's not the massive breakout many predicted it would be.

xXx

With an estimated $17.5 million Friday, the spy/action thriller will take in a few million more than last year's The Fast and the Furious did on its opening weekend. Disappointing? Maybe at first glance, given the sheer amount of marketing, but it's still going to be the second-biggest August opening ever.

Aimed squarely at the 18-to-34 demographic, xXx benefited Friday from the rush factor, but that will hurt its total weekend number. Look for xXx to earn about $47 million for the weekend.

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams

It just hasn't been a good summer to be a sequel. Spy Kids 2 made an estimated $5.2 million Friday. The first film had a $6.8 million Friday and a $26.55 million weekend. The sequel has an additional $8.3 million from its Wednesday opening, and looks to earn less in five days than the original did in three. Spy Kids 2 should earn about $17 million for the weekend, which gives it $25.3 million over five days.

Blood Work

Clint Eastwood returns! And no one cared. Earning an estimated $2.4 million Friday, Blood Work is acting more like 1999's True Crime than 2000's Space Cowboys. Since it's aimed at older audiences, it's not hurt by any rush factor, so the crime drama should take in $7.5 million for the weekend.

Holdovers

It also wasn't a good weekend to be a holdover. Signs, which doesn't have the same gotta-see-it-again factor that Sixth Sense and Unbreakable did, dropped 55% from last Friday with $9.2 million. It should end up with a total weekend decline of 50% or so, good for $30 million for this frame.

Austin Powers in Goldmember plunged another 57% with a $4.24 million Friday. It should be just under $170 million after the weekend, and doesn't look to duplicate the performance of The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Last week's also-ran openings, The Master of Disguise and Runteldat, dropped 65% and 64%, respectively, from last Friday. Hardly shocking for either film. Both should end up down that much for the weekend.

Check back tomorrow for the full weekend estimates and analysis.