'IF' Tops Box Office With $10.3M Friday

John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds' original should reach $30 million for the weekend while the Amy Whinehouse biopic 'Back to Black' won't crack $4 million

Okay, the pre-release projections of $40 million-plus turned out to be hyperbolic, but a $31 million debut weekend for Paramount’s IF is still pretty good. Written and directed by John Krasinski and starring Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming, the $110 million release is an original live-action/animated kid-targeted family film. That in-and-of-itself makes it, unfortunately, unique in this theatrical environment. I can’t even think of the last relevant comp, as even Universal’s early 2011 release Hop had a “marquee character” in the form of an animated Easter bunny. Maybe Night at the Museum, based on Milan Trenc’s picture book but a “new-to-you” adaptation for 99% of the audience, back in late 2006? Of course, that was 17.5 years ago amid an entirely different theatrical ecosystem.