FRIDAY PM UPDATE: In a weekend where a chimp with rabies is looking to scare more people into theaters, 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: Fire and Ash remains the alpha male with what’s expected to be a $24 million fourth weekend at 3,700 locations after a $5.6M Friday and a running cume of $345.2M.

Overseas is where it’s at, and the hope is that the threequel will ring up a global weekend north of $90M+, leading all titles in release. Here in North American, Avatar: Fire and Ash continues to play in Imax, 3D, 4D, Screen-X and D-box premium auditoriums.

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Second for the frame is currently going to Lionsgate’s The Housemaid, holding strong with a $3.4M fourth Friday and a fourth weekend of $12M at 3,123 screens, down 21%, getting the Sydney Sweeney-Amanda Seyfried movie to $94.6M. For Sweeney, as a leading actress, the pic is already her highest grossing at the domestic box office besting Anyone But You‘s $88.3M stateside take.

Paramount/18Hz’s monkey-gone-mad movie Primate with an equal 76% score among critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, is seeing $4.4M today and $10.5M for the weekend at 2,964 sites.

And there are those looking to knock the chimp out such as Lionsgate’s Greenland 2: Migration, with $3.8M today and $10M for the weekend; however, they sport not great critic and audience scores at 54% and 64%, respectively. Gerard Butler’s Den of Thieves: Pantera was in slightly better shape a year ago with RT critic and audience ratings of 62% and 79%, respectively. CinemaScore came in at B+.

With K-12s back in school, the expectation is that the youngins will come out Saturday for more Zootopia 2; the Disney pic is eyeing $10M in weekend 7, -48%, after a $2M Friday for a running cume of $378.7M. While more than Moana 2‘s seventh frame of $6.5M a year ago, that sequel was considerably more frontloaded than Zootopia 2, with its running cume at the time at $434.8M. Moana 2 played all the way to the first weekend of April, ending its run at $460.4M. Just gives you an idea of how much juice is left in Zootopia 2.

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FRIDAY AM UPDATE: Paramount/18Hz’s Primate rang up $1.4M from both Thursday night showtimes and previous previews. Meanwhile, Lionsgate/STX’s Greenland 2: Migration did $900K. Triple note on that Gerard Butler movie: Canada isn’t going this weekend. Primate and Greenland 2 were forecast to make $8M-$10M heading into this weekend.

Despite the entry of two older-male-skewing titles, Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to hold on to No. 1 in its fourth weekend with $20M-$22M. The James Cameron-directed threequel grossed $2.5M yesterday, ending its third week at $55M for a running cume of $321.2M.

The Johannes Roberts-directed, Walter Hamada-produced $21M Primate opens today in 2,964 locations. Internationally, the film opens this week in 26 markets including Mexico. That 90% fresh Rotten Tomatoes critics score has simmered down to 78% fresh, which is still notable for an R-rated horror movie. Oz Perkins’ The Monkey last year had a 77% certified fresh RT score in reviews. Speaking of which, Primate‘s previews are about $500K shy of Monkey‘s $1.9M (which turned into a $5.8M Friday/previews and $14M opening).

Butler’s Lionsgate movie from a year ago, Den of Thieves: Pantera, did $1.35M in previews before a $5.7M Friday and a $15M No. 1 debut. The first Greenland was 77% certified fresh with audiences during the pandemic (remember, it only got a PVOD play), and Part 2 is lower at 59%. Greenland 2 was made for $90M, but Lionsgate only took U.S. for $10M. Elevation will be releasing the sequel in Canada as PVOD via Amazon.

Per Comscore, 76% of colleges are on break today, a number that declines to 42% on Monday but spikes back up to 94% the following Monday on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in addition to K-12 being 94% on break.

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