Friday Report: 'Wall Street' Stock Rises
On Friday, Gordon Gekko proved to still be a commodity after all of these years, claiming nearly as much as the combined grosses of modest upstarts Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and You Again. Overall business was up over the same Friday last year.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps accrued an estimated $7 million on approximately 5,100 screens at 3,565 locations, which was above par for an adult-oriented drama. On-the-money comparables are hard to come by, but the Wall Street sequel's first day was close to Burn After Reading in attendance and nearly twice as much as The Informant! and Michael Clayton.

The first Wall Street debuted nearly 23 years ago and daily records are not available, but it played at a fifth of the theaters that Money Never Sleeps had and earned $4.1 million its first weekend, or the equivalent of double that adjusted for ticket-price inflation. Its $43.8 million final tally would equal close to $87 million today, a sum that the sequel is unlikely to reach based on its first day.

Despite packing around 5,300 screens at 3,575 locations, including a record 2,479 venues presenting the movie in the 3D illusion (3D share is unavailable at this time), relatively few gave a hoot about Legend of the Guardians. The animated adventure mustered an estimated $4.6 million, or about twice as much as the less-hyped Alpha and Omega did last Friday. The Owls were below average by genre standards, generated far less business than How to Train Your Dragon as well as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs from last September. Action-oriented animation, though, can be a tough sell as seen with such recent titles as 9, Astro Boy and Battle for Terra.

Even though it had a big marketing push and the presumably golden touch of Betty White, ensemble comedy You Again floundered with an estimated $2.8 million on close to 2,800 screens at 2,548 locations. The opening was less attended than such tepid similar titles as When in Rome and Mr. Woodcock.

The other new nationwide release, The Virginity Hit, made a pathetic estimated $105,000 at 700 locations.

In second place, The Town boasted an estimated $5 million for a $38.1 million eight-day haul. It was down a moderate 40 percent, but it didn't hold as well as The Departed at the same point. Easy A had a normal 47 percent drop to an estimated $3.6 million, lifting its total to $25.7 million in eight days. Business was typical for the rest of the holdovers as well: Devil dipped 56 percent to an estimated $2.1 million for a $17.4 million eight-day tally. Alpha and Omega retreated 52 percent to an estimated $1.1 million for an $11.5 million sum in eight days. Resident Evil: Afterlife took a series-regular hit of 53 percent to an estimated $1.4 million for a $48.5 million total in 15 days.

Related Chart

Daily Grosses for Friday, Sept. 24