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Norbit

Academy Award nominee Eddie Murphy's latest fat suit entry Norbit earned $10.6 million Friday, and BOP is very disappointed in every single one of you. Murphy's family comedies (though Norbit really should be considered cruel and unusual punishment for any parent who takes their child to see this), tend to have pretty good weekend multipliers, so Saturday should be even better news for Norbit (which is bad news for the rest of us). I will go on the conservative side and give Norbit a 2.8 multiplier for the weekend, which still gives Norbit an astounding $29.6 million for the weekend. We weep for humanity.

Hannibal Rising

The adaptation of the book about the origins of Hannibal Lecter comes quietly with $4.8 million on Friday, a far cry from the $13.4 million Red Dragon earned on its opening day in 2002 (which admittedly, did have Anthony Hopkins as Lecter as a draw). The terrible reviews for both the film and the source material are bringing out only the diehards for this one, which will see a weekend total of slightly under $13 million.

Notable Holdovers

After a fairly lousy opening weekend, Because I Said So rebounds slightly like a romantic comedy should, as it's off only 40% from last Friday. Considering its Sunday was kneecapped by the Super Bowl, its overall weekend decline will actually be in the lower 30% range, as it should come in with around $8.7 million.

The Messengers follows the horror movie textbook, dropping 61% from last Friday. There is less good news here, as it should stay in fourth for the weekend after finishing with about $6.3 million.

Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
Projected Rank	Film	Estimated Gross
1	Norbit	29.6
2	Hannibal Rising	12.9
3	Because I Said So	8.7
4	The Messengers	6.3
5	Night at the Museum	5.1
6	Epic Movie	4.1
7	Smokin' Aces	3.5
8	Dreamgirls	3.0
9	Pan's Labyrinth	2.7
10	Stomp the Yard	2.4