Oscar-Nommed 'Zero Dark Thirty' Expands For #1 Friday And $25.5M Weekend, #2 'Gangster Squad' Disappoints With $18.7M, 'A Haunted House' Close #3; 'Silver Linings', 'Lincoln', 'Life Of Pi' Get Oscar Bumps

FRIDAY PM/SATURDAY AM, 3RD UPDATE: As far as Oscar bumps for this weekend's domestic box office, The Weinstein Company's Silver Linings Playbook took the biggest jump after 8 Academy Award nods (+57% on Thursday and +35% on Friday). Followed by DreamWorks/Fox/Disney's Lincoln after 12 (+43% on Thursday and +15% on Friday), and then 20th Century Fox's Life Of Pi after 11 Oscar nods (+29% on Thursday but now playing in only 757 theaters). Meanwhile, Best Picture candidate Annapurna Pictures/Sony Pictures' expansion of Zero Dark Thirty made it #1 today and for the weekend. By a lot. This is now Kathryn Bigelow's biggest pic. 'The public has spoken,' a Sony exec told me Friday night, referring to the Academy's snubbing her for a Best Director nod. The hunt for Bin Laden pic made more than I'd expected given its long 2-hour 37-minute running time. However, it's got 5 fresh Oscar nominations. Looks like Sony Pictures, Amy Pascal, Bigelow and Mark Boal should stop worrying about all those torture screne critics in Hollywood and Washington DC: the controversy is fueling filmgoers' curiosity across the country. Audiences gave it an 'A-' CinemaScore.

I said 'not so fast' Friday midday when Warner Bros/Village Roadshow were bumping fists and believing their Gangster Squad felt like #1. The tracking is very good. Excellent support from all quadrants,' a WB exec gushed to me. After making a so-so $650K in midnight shows, it opened less than its expected $20M which in and of itself was $10M less than I'd expect Gangster's so-called starpower of Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone to goose gross. (Remember how 1976's Bugsy Malone cast moppets in the mob roles? This pic reeks of that.) On the other hand, reviews are underwhelming although audiences gave Gangster Squad a 'B' CinemaScore. More analysis later.

Open Road Films' newcomer, spoof A Haunted House, is the only comedy. It easily beat The Weinstein Company's R-rated Django Unchained in a run for #3 and now is going after Gangster even with a 'B-' CinemaScore.  Warner Bros' megahit The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Universal's Les Miserables whose successful run just picked up more momentum with those 8 Academy Award nods. More later.

The Top 10 movies based on Friday estimates are:

1. Zero Dark Thirty (Annapurna/Sony) Week 4 (Runs 2,937) R
Friday $9.6M, Weekend $25.5M, Cume $31.0M

2. Gangster Squad (Village Roadshow/Warner Bros) NEW (Runs 3,103) R
Friday $6.6M, Weekend $18.7M

3. A Haunted House (Open Road) NEW [Runs 2,160] R
Friday $6.5M, Weekend $17.5M

4. Django Unchained (Weinsteiin) Week 3 [Runs 3,012] R
Friday $3.4M, Weekend $11.0M, Cume $125.3M

5. Les Miserables (Working Title/Universal) Week 3 [Runs 2,928] PG13
Friday $3.0M, Weekend $9.5M, Cume $118.6M

6. The Hobbit 3D (MGM/Warner Bros) Week 5 [Runs 3,012] PG13
Friday $2.4M, Weekend $8.0M, Cume $277.0M

7. Parental Guidance (Fox) Week 3 [Runs 2,957] PG
Friday $1.9M, Weekend $5.8M, Cume $60.4M

8. Lincoln (DreamWorks/Fox/Disney) Week 10 [Runs 2,027] PG13
Friday $1.8M, Weekend $6.3M, Cume $152.6M

9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D (Lionsgate) Week 2 [Runs 2,659] R
Friday $1.8M (-82%), Weekend $5.5M, Cume $31.6M

10. Jack Reacher (Skydance/Paramount) Week 4 [Runs 2,707] PG13
Friday $1.6M, Weekend $5.0M, Cume $72.8M

For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...

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

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