BOX OFFICE ABLAZE! 'Prometheus' And 'Madagascar 3' Battle For $21M Friday ' But Toon Will Beat Sci-Fi Pic In Huge Weekend

FRIDAY PM/SATURDAY AM, 3RD UPDATE: Any worries about a Summer 2012 slump are officially gone. Because Friday's numbers and this weekend's forecasts just keep getting bigger and better. Overall moviegoing looks like a whopper summer weekend: $180M, or +35% from last year.  To Hollywood's surprise tonight, Prometheus (3,396 theaters) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (4,258 theaters) are in a dog fight for #1. No one least of all Twentieth Century Fox expected its R-rated original scifi thriller playing in less theaters to outgross DreamWorks Animation's PG-rated family fare threequel Friday. In fact Fox execs kept predicting no more than a $30M-$35M weekend result in a blatant attempt to lower expectations. But Prometheus in North America debuted to an overperforming $3.561M in midnight screenings at 1,368 locations, shooting its Friday gross to $21M and a minimum $55M weekend. And the actioner was on fire when it opened internationally a week earlier. Coming into Friday, Prometheus already has amassed $51M from overseas territories that opened last weekend and posted strong opening day numbers out of Australia, Korea and Taiwan, according to the studio. Domestically, the tantalizing combination of Alien's Ridley Scott as director and Lost's Damon Lindelof as screenwriter, plus Fox's Avatar-savvy teaser marketing that also kept Prometheus under wraps, really motivated moviegoers. So the film already is a big winner no matter which pic tops Friday. But audiences only bestowed a so-so 'B' CinemaScore on Prometheus ' and that could hurt word of mouth.

Audiences loved Madagascar 3 and gave it straight 'A' CinemaScore as usual. And the toon distributed by Paramount also took in $21M Friday and should enjoy a giant Saturday kid bump to win the weekend with $58M. (Though one rival studio predicts as much as $63M.) In any case it's one of DreamWorks' best results, benefitting from pent-up demand because of the lack of family movies in the marketplace for some time. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted also stampeded out of the gate with early box office results internationally Friday. This weekend the family fare opens in 28 markets, including Russia, China, France, Korea, Brazil, and Mexico day-and-date with the U.S. and Canada. Russia logged the biggest opening day for any animated release ever, distributor Paramount announced today ' $3.7M from 881 locations on Thursday. Korea, which was having a national holiday, took in $1.9M from 502 locations on opening day Wednesday. Also that day, France debuted with $1.9M from 685 venues.

As for holdovers, Universal's Snow White And The Huntsman follows last weekend's strong opening with another fierce finish while Sony/Columbia's Men In Black 3 starts its third weekend still in double-digits. I'm told that each film should end their domestic runs with $160M-$165M all-in. As for Marvel's The Avengers from Disney, the moolah keeps growing. It enters this weekend with $561M domestic and $816.6M foreign for a humongous global cume of $1.3B. It's now the the #3 film of all time globally (behind only Avatar's $2.7B and Titanic's $2.1B) as well as all time domestically (behind only Avatar's $761M and Titanic's $659M). It now looks as if Avengers will end up $600M all in domestic.

Top Ten based on Friday's estimated North American grosses:

1. Prometheus (Fox) NEW [3,396 Theaters] R
Friday $21M, Weekend $55M

2. Madagascar 3 (DreamWorks Anim/Paramount) NEW [4,258 Theaters] PG
Friday $21M, Weekend $58M

3. Snow White & The Huntsman (Universal) Week 2 [3,777 Theaters] PG13
Friday $7.3M (-64%), Weekend $23M, Cume $98.5M

4. Men In Black 3 (Sony) Week 3 [3,792 Theaters] PG13
Friday $4.3M, Weekend $15M, Cume $137M

5. The Avengers (Marvel/Disney) Week 6 [3,129 Theaters] PG13
Friday $3.3M, Weekend $12M, Cume $573M

6. Best Exotic Marigold (Fox Searchlight) Week 6 [1,298 Theaters] PG13
Friday $874K, Weekend $3.1M, Cume $30.9M

7. What To Expect When (Lionsgate) Week 4 [2,087 Theaters] PG13
Friday $850K, Weekend $2.7M, Cume $35.7

8. Battleship (Universal) Week 4 [1,954 Theaters] PG13
Friday $700K, Weekend $2.4M, Cume $60.0M

9. The Dictator (Paramount) Week 4 [1,651 Theaters] R
Friday $625K, Weekend $2.0M, Cume $50.1M

10. Dark Shadows (Warner Bros) Week 5 [1,550 Theaters] PG13
Friday $425K, Weekend $1.5M, Cume $73.9M

FRIDAY 4:30 PM UPDATE:  Rival studios now say Fox's Prometheus is looking to open with a huge $26M Friday and $68M weekend. That's rare indeed for an R-rated pic. But Fox, the studio that specializes in lowering expectations, disputes those numbers. 'There is no mathematical scenario I know of that we hit $68M. Even at $26M for today, we get to $66.5M ' and there is nothing on this green earth that shows us hitting $26M today,' a Fox exec huffed at me. 'I could see us doing $22M today which would likely get us to $56M.' No matter, a great result. Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted also is burning up the box office with a massive $18M Friday and $57M weekend according to current projections.  Prometheus in North America debuted to $3.561M in midnight screenings at 1,368 locations. That's a $2,603 per-location average. Fox called it 'a fantastic start'. The midnight numbers include $1.03M from 294 IMAX theaters.

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.