According to today’s weekend box office estimates, Mark Wahlberg once again proved to be a popular action man with strong audience pull as CONTRABAND earned an estimated $8.7 million in Friday earnings, propelling the film to an early Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend lead and an estimated take slightly above $25 million total.
A remake of Iceland's official submission for the 2010 Academy Awards Foreign Language prize, Reykjavik-Rotterdam, the original film’s producer Baltasar Kormákur went on to direct the Hollywood remake starring Wahlberg as a former smuggler who accepts a job in order to protect his brother-in-law.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast 3D, a re-release of the 1991 Oscar winner, looked to seal a second place finish with with an estimated $5.6 million in Friday earnings.
Joyful Noise, the Warner Bros. gospel comedy featuring Queen Latifah and the big-screen return of Dolly Parton making her first movie in 19 years, landed in third place with an estimated $3.3 million in Friday earnings.
Paramount, which made $33.7 million last weekend from its low-budget, documentary-like horror The Devil Inside, earned an estimated $2.7 million in Friday box office for the start of its sophomore weekend.
Look for further box office news tomorrow.