'The Back-up Plan' rules box office... for now

I still haven't managed to drag myself to see Jennifer Lopez's new comedy "The Back-up Plan" (but will do so tomorrow bright and early), but the Alan Poul-directed flick finished first at the North American box office Friday with an estimated $4.2 million in ticket sales from 3,280 locations.

Yes, that seems pretty shocking, even though I'm convinced the film won't emerge as overall weekend winner. I bet DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" will regain momentum today and tomorrow and fly back to No. 1. On Friday, it was second with a daily gross of $3.4 million.

Domestically, "Dragon" has now reached $166.4 million. The remaining new entries didn't perform as well, with "The Losers" only securing the fourth spot with $3.2 million. Meanwhile, Disneynature's "Oceans" came in eighth only Friday, earning $2 million from ticket sales at 1,206 locations.

At No. 3, Shawn Levy's comedy "Date Night" picked up $3.3 million, reaching a total haul of $56.1 million. Last week's winner "Kick-Ass" took a big dive Friday, collecting only $2.8 million at No. 5 ($28.1 million total). Go see that flick if you haven't already, because it's incredibly entertaining and hilarious.

"Oceans" is also the only top 10 film that lost momentum compared to its Thursday's performance. Earnings were down 17.1 percent, and that's not the best sign. It definitely looks like this won't exactly be one of those record-breaking weekends, that's for sure. I'll be back with weekend estimates tomorrow.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)