Mid-$40M Opening Anticipated for Wreck-it Ralph

Sonic will make his big screen debut in North America come Friday when Wreck-it Ralph releases to theaters.  We wanted to give you an idea of how well it’s expected to do.

Virtual Hollywood stock market exchange HSX.com currently has the Disney film projected to open this weekend to ticket sales of $45.4 million.  That would easily make it the top film for the weekend compared to other new releases.  But that number is down about half a million dollars today, and the number has slowly been trending down since news of super storm Sandy brought on concerns in the northeastern United States.  Plenty of theaters there may still be affected by power problems this weekend, including in New York, the second largest movie market.

Wreck-it Ralph may only have one weekend to make a lot of its money.  Next weekend, the latest 007 flick Skyfall will debut in the United States, and it is expected to make more than $68 million, according to HSX.com.  Skyfall will carry a PG-13 rating compared to Ralph’s PG, but it can be argued the two movies cater to two different audiences.

We will bring you further estimates for Wreck-it Ralph Friday evening and the final sales numbers on Monday.  The guidance may help determine how smart the tie-in to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was.