Box office: ‘2 Guns’ blasts its way to No. 1 on Friday

Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington have this weekend’s box office crown in their sights. 

The duo’s new action film “2 Guns” easily topped Friday with a haul of $10 million. The R-rated movie will likely earn around $28 million for the three-day weekend in North America.

Due to the film’s double star-power, “2 Guns” was initially targeted to open slightly higher, around $30 million, but Universal should still be happy with the results.

In its second week of release, 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” spin-off “The Wolverine” continues to do solid, but hardly super-powered, business in the U.S. It earned $6.4 million on Friday. The Hugh Jackman starrer has so far earned $79.7 domestically, and will have a hard time topping its predecessor, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which earned $179 million in 2009. 

Debuting at No. 3, Sony’s “The Smurfs 2,” which opened Wednesday, may be getting somewhat lost in the recent avalanche of family films. The critically panned sequel picked up a decent $5.5 million on Friday, and is likely to earn a disappointing $17.5 million for the three-day weekend, bringing its five-day opening numbers to just $27 million.

2011’s “The Smurfs” earned a significantly higher $36 million in its first three days of release. 

“The Conjuring” scared up another $4.3 million for fourth place. It has so far earned $99.2 million, and will easily reach the magical $100 million mark today.

The unstoppable “Despicable Me 2” rounded out the top five, pulling in another $3.1 million. With a total of $319 million, it’s 2013’s second-highest domestic grosser so far, behind only “Iron Man 3.” 

Meanwhile, in limited release, the Lindsay Lohan erotic thriller “The Canyons” is playing on one screen, the IFC Center in New York City, where it’s projected to earn $25,000 for the weekend. “Canyons,” directed by Paul Schrader also debuted on VOD Friday, where it will likely make the bulk of its profits.

Look for complete weekend estimates Sunday on HitFix. 

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