Sunday Update: While still marking a resounding success, updated estimates for Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! have come in significantly lower than Universal’s projections on Saturday morning, leading to what is now projected to be a surprising first place upset for Equalizer 2. Read here for our updated coverage.

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Saturday Update: Nearly ten years after its predecessor’s fantastic run, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! delivered on optimistic expectations with an estimated $14.277 million opening day in first place. Opening day was 45 percent over the first film’s $9.865 million and 13 percent ahead of its 2018 inflation-adjusted $12.586 million. Universal estimates this morning that the weekend tally will approach $39 million, delivering a first place debut — a daily and weekend position that the original 2008 film was never able to enjoy due to opening as a counter-programmer on the same weekend as The Dark Knight.

The Equalizer 2 generated a strong opening day of $13.555 million in second place, marking the latest hit for Denzel Washington in his first sequel. Yesterday’s figure was 8.5 percent ahead of its predecessor’s $12.495 million opening in September 2014. Sony estimates the film will earn $33.21 million through Sunday’s end, which would come in on the high end of pre-release expectations.

Hotel Transylvania 3 ($6.7 million), Ant-Man and the Wasp ($4.493 million), and Incredibles 2 ($3.154 million) rounded out the top five yesterday while Unfriended: Dark Web opened in ninth place with $1.396 million.

Meanwhile, Blindspotting opened with $143,000 from 14 locations yesterday, resulting in a very healthy $10,214 per-theater average.

Preliminary weekend estimates are below, including official studio projections from Fox, Global Road, Sony, and Universal. Updated studio estimates to follow on Sunday.

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Friday Report: Universal’s Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! is off to a strong start this weekend with $3.4 million in Thursday night revenue. That came from 7pm shows at 2,850 locations. Given the usual caveats for comparisons to Thursday night performers, that figure matches the $3.4 million of Ghostbusters two years ago, while coming in just behind the $4.0 million of Ocean’s 8 earlier this summer — the latter film debuting a few hours earlier on Thursday. Respectively, those titles grossed $46 million and $41.6 million opening weekends.

Sony’s Equalizer 2 is off to a positive start all its own as Denzel Washington’s first career sequel posted $3.1 million yesterday. Those shows began at 4pm in 2,934 theaters. The sequel’s most relevant/recent comp is likely to be Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which earned $2.0 million from opening night shows at 7pm on its way to a $19 million weekend.

Thursday night earnings for Unfriended: Dark Web were not yet available at the time of this story’s publishing.

For the weekend, it’s expected that Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation will round out the top three, but it’s possible for it to be in a close race for second with fellow Sony title Equalizer 2.

For additional pre-weekend analysis and tracking, check out our earlier weekend forecast. For continued updates throughout the weekend, follow the Boxoffice team on Twitter.

The post Weekend Estimates (Update): ‘Mamma Mia 2’ Dances to First Place on Friday; ‘Equalizer 2’ Tunes Up $30M+ appeared first on BoxOffice Pro.