Friday Report: 'Thor' Plummets But Holds Off Feisty 'Bridesmaids'
Thor took a beating on Friday but still held on to first place at the box office. Newcomer Bridesmaids settled for second, though its debut eclipsed most forecasts and boded well for the remainder of the weekend. The weekend's other major new release, Priest, was below genre standards.

Thor fell 64 percent to an estimated $9.1 million. Among recent summer comic book kick-offs, that was a steeper drop than Iron Man but lighter than Iron Man 2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. With an eight-day total of $93.9 million, though, Thor still trailed all three of those movies by a wide margin.

Bridesmaids notched a solid $7.8 million start. While that was a far cry from Sex and the City or The Hangover, it was ahead of more modest comparable titles like Baby Mama, I Love You, Man and Get Him to the Greek. Based on these antecedents, the Judd Apatow production should easily finish the weekend with over $20 million.

Long-delayed comic book adaptation Priest earned an estimated $5.6 million in its first day. The gross and attendance figures were way off from similar Sony/Screen Gems movies Underworld and Resident Evil. It was also notably down from Legion, which came from the same director () and also featured Paul Bettany as a violent religious protagonist. Genre movies tend to have front-loaded weekends, so it's unlikely that Priest will even reach a modest $15 million for the weekend.

Fast Five finished ahead of Priest with an estimated $5.9 million, pushing its total to $155.1 million. In the process, it inched past Fast and Furious to become the series' highest-grossing movie in just 15 days.

Something Borrowed rounded out the Top Five with $2.3 million for an eight-day total of $20.9 million. Jumping the Broom wasn't far behind, earning $2 million to bring its total to $20.7 million.

A few noteworthy limited releases also hit theaters yesterday, though none of them impressed. Will Ferrell comedy-drama Everything Must Go grossed $220,000 at 218 locations for a weak $1,009 per-theater average. Hesher, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson only gathered $36,000 at 40 venues. The big loser, though, was Lionsgate's Latino-baiting dance movie Go For It, which earned a pathetic $35,000 at 218 locations.



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Grosses for Friday, May 13, 2011