Saturday Report: Warner Bros.’ Space Jam: A New Legacy scored an even-better-than-expected $13.1 million opening day on Friday, grabbing first place for the day and setting a pace to easily win the weekend box office battle.

As opening days during the pandemic go, this was easily Warner’s best to date, surpassing The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It‘s $9.8 million and Godzilla vs. Kong‘s $9.7 million (which was a Wednesday). It trails only Black Widow, F9, and A Quiet Place Part II among all opening days during the pandemic shutdown and recovery phases since March 2020.

Some front-loading could still be expected given the pull of LeBron James and NBA fans, but family appeal across the board — especially outside major cities — should help it enjoy a healthy weekend. Game 5 of the NBA Finals will take place on Saturday night as well, so that’s a factor to consider in weekend front-loading. Major theatrical re-openings in Canada are also in play right now, boosting this and other films this weekend.

The studio reports 53 percent of yesterday’s Jam audience was male, while 72 percent were under 35 (and 52 percent under 25), providing further evidence that young and adult male moviegoers remain a driving force in the pandemic recovery era.

For the weekend, we’re projecting A New Legacy to exceed $30 million with an eye toward a possible $35 million depending on Saturday and Sunday holds. The film is also streaming day-and-date for free to subscribers of HBO Max.

As for Black Widow, it added $8.03 million on Friday for an eight-day domestic haul of $113.8 million. That sets it up land within expectations for its second frame, likely around $26 million. Disney has not yet provided any further updates on Premier Access streaming figures since last weekend.

Meanwhile, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions posted $3.815 million on opening day yesterday (including Thursday’s $1.2 million from previews beginning at 3pm). Sony projects an $8.665 million weekend opening, although our internal models suggest it will probably skew a bit higher.

On the limited opening fronts, Focus Features’ Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain posted $760K from 927 locations on Friday, while Neon’s Pig has an unofficial estimate of $370K from 550 domestic theaters on Friday.

Full studio updates will follow on Sunday.

The post Weekend Report: <em>Space Jam: A New Legacy</em> Eyes $32-35M+ Weekend Upset Over <em>Black Widow</em>‘s $26M Second Frame appeared first on Boxoffice.