Excitement that “The Internship” would outperform late tracking has proven for naught. The Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson comedy will ride its lackluster Friday debut to a modest overall weekend.
Based on early returns, Deadline guessed “The Internship,” which was originally forecast for a weekend bow in the $15-18 million range, could earn as much as $9 million Friday. If it accomplished that, its weekend gross would surely cross the $20 million barrier.
Unfortunately, that $20 million is now looking more and more like a ceiling; the film earned only $6.6 million Friday, which revises estimates back to their high-teens level.
But regardless of the specific gross, it will be no match for “The Purge,” which earned a healthy $16.7 million in its opening day. Analysts believe it will be front-loaded, but the film will have no trouble cracking comfortably into the $30-40 million range, which would represent a massive improvement over the $20 million that was forecast.
“Fast and Furious 6,” in a quest to reach $200 million this weekend, added another $6.1 million Friday for a domestic cume of $189.3 million. “Now You See Me” ($6.0 million) and “Epic” ($3.6 million) completed the top five.